Cuba sent one million doses of its Abdala Covid-19 vaccine to Nicaragua, where the Ministry of Health of that Central American country has authorized the emergency use of Cuban formulas to combat the coronavirus.
The Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) of Cuba reported this Tuesday, via Twitter, that the shipment is in progress.
The Cuban vaccine shipment is part of the 7 million bulbs manufactured on the island for the voluntary immunization campaign against COVID-19 that is being applied to the Nicaraguan population, according to local media.
Un millón d dosis d #Abdala viaja desde Cuba para ayudar al hermano pueblo de #Nicaragua en la inmunización contra la #COVID19. Es la primera vacuna anticovid19 desarrollada en Latinoamérica por el #CIGB. El servicio de transporte lo ofreció EMCOMED y el de exportación, Farmacuba pic.twitter.com/FDx1YdyjnS
— CIGBCuba (@CIGBCuba) October 19, 2021
The Sanitary Regulation Authority of the Ministry of Health of the Central American nation endorsed the emergency use of the Cuban Abdala and Soberana 02 vaccines.
Nicaragua thus joins other countries such as Iran, Venezuela and Vietnam, which already administer to their population vaccines created by Cuban scientific institutions to face the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Abdala, the first COVID-19 vaccine developed in Latin America, is a subunit formula based on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the virus’s protein S — the type of platform in which Cuban scientists have the most experience — and has an intramuscular administration scheme of three injections.
Clinical trials of this vaccine created by the CIGB showed an efficacy of 92.2% in the trials.
For its part, Soberana 02 is a subunit conjugate vaccine that combines the virus antigen and tetanus toxoid to stimulate the response of the immune system.
This other Cuban-made vaccine was developed by the Finlay Vaccine Institute and its effectiveness was 91.2% when combining two doses and a booster dose of Soberana Plus.