Cuban President Congratulates Developers of New Vaccine for Children

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today congratulated the scientific team of the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV) that developed the Quimi-Vio injectable against respiratory diseases.

In his profile on the social network X, the president wrote: Cuban science has done it again: we have a new vaccine for our children! It is Quimi-Vio, which protects against pneumonia, meningitis, otitis and other diseases caused by pneumococcus. The result of fifteen years of study. Thanks to the team that made the dream come true, he said.

The Cuban anti-pneumococcal vaccine Quimi-Vio received the sanitary registration from the Center for the control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices of the Republic of Cuba, after concluding all the required clinical trials, which proved its quality, safety and efficacy.

According to IFV's Research Director, Dagmar García, this is a very complex vaccine, which will significantly improve the health indicators of children, in terms of morbidity of respiratory diseases and infant mortality due to infections.

The scientist recently detailed that the first study with Quimi-Vio was carried out in the central province of Cienfuegos in 2023, where more than 90 percent of children between one and five years of age (approximately 11,600 children) were vaccinated.

A community-based clinical trial was also conducted there, in which 93 percent of all children between one and five years of age were injected.

One year after immunization, there was a 63 percent reduction in hospitalization rates for respiratory disease and a 73 percent reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease for the serotypes contained in the vaccine, she said.

In June this year, it was announced that an intervention study against pneumococcal disease in infants under one year of age (two, four and 11 months old) will be carried out with Quimi-Vio also in Cienfuegos.

According to IPK's main researcher, María Eugenia Toledo, Quimi-Vio will protect infants under one year of age from 11 serotypes that produce pneumococcal disease.