Cuba approves emergency use of home-grown Covid vaccine
HAVANA: Cuba on Friday approved its home-grown Abdala coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, the first developed in Latin America.
The CECMED health regulator gave the go-ahead after Abdala’s makers last month announced the vaccine candidate was more than 92 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19 after three doses.
Cuba is working on five coronavirus vaccines, and in May started immunising its population using two of them – Abdala and Soberana 2, even before they received approval.
By this week, 6.8 million of Cuba’s 11.2 million people have received at least one dose of either vaccine, while 1.6 million have the required three doses.
The country has not bought or sought vaccines from elsewhere. It hopes to immunise its population before the end of the year.
In June, the BioCubaFarma laboratory said Abdala “shows efficacy of 92.28 per cent in its three-dose scheme.”
The CECMED said Friday its approval of the vaccine was based on its analysis that Abdala met requirements for “quality, safety and effectiveness.”
It was given “after completing a rigorous process of evaluation of the dossier and having carried out inspections of the plants involved,” added Aica Laboratories, where the vaccine is produced.
Under American sanctions, Cuba has a long tradition of making its own vaccines, dating back to the 1980s.
Nearly 80 per cent of its vaccines are produced locally.