People allergic to thiomersal can be vaccinated with candidates from Cuba

Havana, April 3 (RHC)-- People allergic to thiomersal can be vaccinated with anti-Covid-19 candidates from Cuba, for which single-dose batches are already being produced without this organomercuric compound with antiseptic action.

In statements to the Cubadebate website, the director of Research of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV), Dagmar Garcia, said that there would be vaccines for all those people excluded from the current clinical trials for that reason.

She specified that, as part of the productive scaling-up at the National Center of Biopreparations of the Caribbean nation, the last batches with a single dose made so far and others to be produced in the future would not contain thiomersal.

In the intervention study with Soberana 02, which is applied to health workers in Havana, batches without this mercury preservative have already been used, she explained.

In the case of this candidate, the expert pointed out that under IFV's responsibility and currently also in phase III clinical trials in the Cuban capital, the multidose presentations always contain thiomersal.

¨This compound serves as a preservative to guarantee the preservation of the sterility of the vial, which, necessarily, will be operated several times to administer each one of the doses,' the specialist explained.