Cuba's Soberana 02 vaccine Tuesday began phase II B of its clinical trials in the Revolution Square and La Lisa, two Havana municipalities that are considered high-risk territories for the COVID-19 transmission.

During the next three weeks, the 19 de Abril and Clinica Uno health care centers will administer two doses of the intramuscular vaccine to 900 people from 19 to 80 years old.

The volunteers signed a document offering their consent to take part in the clinical trial. In this phase, health authorities will test the reactions, safety, and immunity of the COVID-19 vaccine created by the Cuban Finlay Institute.

"If the results of the phase II B are positive, the vaccine will pass to the third phase, which is decisive to determine if it can be massively used," the specialist of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Insititute, Maria Toledo, explained.

"This is one of the most important trials conducted on a COVID-19 vaccine in Cuba," Toledo added while assuring that the previous studies were exploratory and involved a smaller number of people.

Soberana 02 is a conjugate vaccine in which the antigen virus is linked to the tetanus toxoid. Cuba is the first Latin American country to develop a drug of this type.

Currently, three Cuban vaccines are in their clinical trials, along with Soberana 02. They are Mambisa, Abdala, and Soberana 01.