Since last July, the drug has been authorized for emergency use by the national regulatory entity, after demonstrating an efficacy of 92.28 percent in the prevention of symptomatic disease and an effectiveness of 90 percent in seriously ill patients affected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Likewise, it showed a 99.15 percent increase in antibodies in volunteers aged three to 11 years and 98.28 percent in those between 12 and 18 participants in the Ismaelillo clinical trial carried out in the central province of Camagüey.
The Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), creator of the immunogen, confirmed that the increase in antibody titers was four times or more from the first dose of the drug in these population groups.
The clinical trial concluded on October 14, in which 500 children participated and two formulations with potencies of 25 and 50 micrograms of Abdala were used, in a schedule of 0-14-28 days.
The main researcher of the studies with this vaccine, Sonia Resik, highlighted at that time that more than 80 percent of the adverse events reported in children were mild and the rest of the indicators were comparable to the data obtained in adults, a fact that confirmed its effectiveness.
With these results, the Cuban health authorities authorized a massive vaccination campaign, as well as the use in the population of two to 11 years of age since last October, a decision that made the Caribbean country the first in the world to protect children. girls and adolescents from Covid-19.
On the other hand, the Abdala vaccine, over time, maintains its safety, effectiveness and immune response to Covid-19, which confirms its suitability for booster doses, said Dr. Verena Muzio González, director of Clinical Research of the CIGB.
He explained that the immune response was higher in people already vaccinated with three injections of this drug and in others with Sinopharm (China) and Sputnik (Russia), when he intervened last November in the radio television space Round Table.
He specified that the results of the clinical trial with convalescents without any anti-Covid-19 drug administered, carried out at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical Surgical Hospital in this city, are satisfactory.
Hence the approval of the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (Cecmed) to be applied as a booster dose in subjects with more than five months of vaccination.
Since last November 7, the booster dose of Abdala has been applied in the Cuban capital to health workers, a strategy that was gradually extended to other sectors of the population.
The delivery of just over six million doses is expected to accelerate this process due to the appearance of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease.
The Caribbean island also has the immunogens Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, from the Finlay Vaccine Institute, to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and two vaccine candidates (Soberana 01 and Mambisa) in the phase of clinical trials with important results, according to sources. officers.
Countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran, and Vietnam administer Cuban vaccines to their population.
This reality is unknown by the World Health Organization (WHO), when adding to the list for emergency use the recombinant drug Vaxzevria (AZD1222) to treat the disease, produced jointly by Argentina and Mexico, used in some countries and with this approval will facilitate their acquisition and production.
The biological, from the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, is developed by the Argentine company mAbxience and the Mexican Laboratorios Liomont and, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and makes it the “first” vaccine in Latin America.
It was added to the immunogens Covaxin, Covishield, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sinovac (CoronaVac) and Sinopharm approved by the international health entity.
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