The international health organization reviews the information provided by the manufacturers, the product and the processing plants. The process is extensive and, from it, the WHO issues a recommendation for use. However, each country must approve the use of sanitary supplies, regardless of the WHO recommendation.
“If you have a recommendation for use, but your national regulatory authority has not approved the vaccine in your country, then you cannot use it,” adds the doctor from the Faculty of Medicine.
When a product, in this case vaccines, has not completed its review process before the WHO, this does not necessarily mean that it is not a quality input. Sometimes it depends on slow processes because several products are reviewed.
“We have seen that there is a very important ideological component, because many things are said about the quality and efficacy of vaccines and many times they do not have the arguments or complete information,” he stresses.
But the similarity that remains between the latest pandemics is that medicine still has many uncertainties, reflects the doctor and historian of medicine Ana María Carrillo.
Cuba’s experience in vaccine production
Cuba has been producing safe, quality and effective vaccines for more than 30 years. The Island is a supplier of vaccines for Unicef, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and exports to several countries.
Two of the Cuban vaccines, one for influenza and the other against hepatitis, are recommended by the WHO.
“They have had a vision of being self-sufficient in the production of vaccines and biotechnologicals, something that Mexico has not achieved. In more than 30 years, Mexico went from being a vaccine producer and dedicated itself to being an importer of foreign vaccines,” Rodríguez points out.
