Cuba reported this Monday that its three-injection Abdala vaccine against the coronavirus demonstrated an effectiveness of 92.28 percent in phase 3 clinical trials. BioCubaFarma, the laboratory that designed the immunizer that is close to becoming the first dose against the coronavirus created in Latin America.
“Abdala, a vaccine candidate from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, shows an efficacy of 92.28%, in his 3-dose scheme,” the laboratory celebrated in a Twitter message.
With these results, Abdala would be officially considered a vaccine against covid-19, since the efficacy requirements demanded by the World Health Organization establish a 50 percent efficacy for the registration of vaccines. The Cuban authorities have announced that in a couple of weeks they hope to ask the regulatory authority for permission for the emergency use of the vaccines, although immunization has already begun on the island with the “population intervention study.”
The announcement came just days after the government said another homegrown vaccine, Sovereign II, had shown 62 percent effectiveness.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel went to the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) to learn first-hand the details of Abdala’s effectiveness, as the president recently announced from his Twitter account. “Hit by two pandemics (covid-19 and blockade), our scientists from Finlay and CIGB, have jumped over all obstacles and have given us two very effective vaccines: Soberana and Abdala,” the official wrote.
The announcement comes at a time when the island is experiencing a strong outbreak of the disease. This Monday registered one of its worst days in terms of positive cases with 1,561, while since the beginning of the pandemic, 169,365 infections and 1,170 deaths have been recorded.
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