Nearly 17 Million Dosis of COVID-19 Vaccines Already Administered in Cuba

A total of 16 943 296 doses of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, have been administered in Cuba, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported on Thursday.

According to the MINSAP’s website, 7 283 961 people have received one dose of the Cuban vaccine, while the second dose has been injected to 5 261 197 Cubans, and the third dose to 4 386 783.

Cuba has three Covid-19 vaccination programs exceeding the ground limit imposed by the World Health Organization (50 percent) to be declared vaccines, and one of these, Abdala, has already received authorization for emergency use in the country, as well as the Soberana 02 vaccine for the pediatric population.

Abdala, produced by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) and the first vaccine in Latin America, showed 92.28 percent of efficacy in its three-shot scheme.

The Soberana 02 vaccine, developed by the Finlay Vaccines Institute (IFV), was added to the vaccination program.

With two shots, Soberana 02 showed 65.6 percent of efficacy in its final evaluation on symptomatic patients, a figure that increased after the 62 percent reported in the intermediate study.

The IFV reported an efficacy of 91.2 percent in the scheme by combining two doses of Soberana 02 and one of the Soberana Plus vaccine.

In addition to the Cuban above-mentioned vaccines, Cuba has the vaccines candidates Mambisa, also by the CIGB, only one to administered nasally, which got the permission from local health authorities to move on to phase II of clinical trials; and Soberana 01, designed by the IFV.