HAVANA, CUBA.- Doctor of Science Dagmar Garcia Rivera, director of research at the Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV), announced the beginning Monday of the second stage of the intervention study of Soberana 02, an anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by that institution of the BioCubaFarma business group.
In a presentation about the Cuban vaccination strategy against the current pandemic, broadcasted by Cuban TV, the expert explained that the volunteers participating in that study are receiving the second dose of that product, whose first injection was applied to more than 60,000 health workers and 10,000 from the biotechnology centers in Havana.
Garcia Rivera clarified that the referred interventional study, common in clinical-epidemiological analysis, covers a total of 150, 000 people in Havana and includes sectors with a high risk of contagion, disease and dispersion of the pandemic, exposed in real situations of community transmission.
She specified that phase III of Soberana 02 is also being carried out in the capital, with 44,010 people, of whom 16,862 have already received the first two doses, thus effectively advancing the schedule for the application of this vaccine candidate to combat the pandemic, which in Cuba and in the rest of the world has become more difficult to control every day.
The renowned Cuban scientist stated that those vaccinated can become infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, even if they do not develop the disease later on, so she urged the volunteers to comply with the complete immunization schedule and to maintain the corresponding sanitary measures to protect themselves from this coronavirus.
She stressed that the immunogens contribute to reducing the circulation of the disease, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19, and will gradually help to restore some normality, although reiterating that this will require approximately 80 % of the population to be fully immunized.
The scientist also pointed out that the first candidate presented by the IFV, Soberana 01, one of the five formulations of this proposal, finished its phase I clinical trials with excellent results and will soon start the second stage of studies in modality II-III in the central provinces of the country, and will also be applied to the pediatric population.