Cuba boosted by COVID-19 vaccine early efficacy results Coronavirus pandemic News

The Cuban Sovereign 2 vaccine candidate has been shown to be 62 percent effective in two of its three doses, BioCubaFarm says.

The Cuban Sovereign Vaccine 2 vaccine candidate has shown 62 percent effectiveness of having only two of its three doses, the state biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said, citing preliminary data from end-of-phase trials.

Cuba, whose biotechnology sector has exported vaccines for decades, has five vaccine candidates in clinical trials, two of which – Soberana 2 and Abdala – are in late-stage trials.

“In a few weeks, we should be able to achieve efficacy results, hopefully with three higher doses,” said Vicente Vérez, director of the Finlay vaccine institute, which has developed Soberana 2.

The news comes as the largest Caribbean island is facing its worst outbreak since the pandemic began, with more contagious variants arriving, setting new records for daily coronavirus cases.

The communist-run country has chosen not to import foreign vaccines, but to rely on its own. Experts say it is a risky gamble, but if it pays off, Cuba could burn its scientific reputation, create a much-needed hard currency through exports and strengthen the power of vaccines around the world.

“We know that our government has not been able to provide all the funding it needed for this project, and yet it is the result of a global level,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a presentation of state television results on Saturday.

Several countries that have traveled from Argentina and Jamaica to Mexico and Venezuela have expressed interest in buying Cuban vaccines. Sovereign Iran 2 began production earlier this year as part of late-stage clinical trials.

Cuban authorities have begun massively administering experimental vaccines as part of “intervention studies” that they hope will slow the spread of the virus.

Daily cases have dropped by half since the start of this vaccination campaign in the capital, according to official data, although there may also be more stringent measures to block this.