Thousands of doses of Covid-19 vaccine candidate administered in Cuba

Nearly 35,000 volunteers who participate in the Phase III trial on the Soberana 02 vaccine candidate in Cuba have already received the first dose, as part of the the immunization program against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV) Deputy Director Yuri Valdes informed that 44,010 volunteers are expected to complete the trial on Wednesday, March 31.

Valdes noted that a trial could also begin in the following weeks in children under 18 years of age.

Multicenter, adaptive, parallel-group, randomized, placebo-controlled and double-blind, Phase III of clinical trials on Soberana 02 aims to demonstrate efficacy through two vaccination programs: one with two doses of the shot and a third booster dose with Soberana Plus, also developed by the IFV, will be added.

In addition to the volunteers who have already received the vaccine in that period, more than 13,000 Cuban health and biopharmaceutical workers were vaccinated this week and included in the intervention trial that started on Monday, March 22, in which 150,000 individuals must be vaccinated.

Common in clinical-epidemiological testing processes, the trial will examine the effectiveness and impact of Soberana 02 in people exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the pathogen that causes Covid-19, in real situations of community contagion and the effects of vaccination in population sectors with high risk, disease and spread of the pandemic.

Controlled and without a placebo, the intervention study also takes place in Havana and will involve 70,000 workers from the scientific complex and others from the public health sector.

In order to assess the compliance with the protocols of each study, researchers and health authorities visit the vaccination centers.