Cuba announces 62% efficacy of Covid-19 vaccine after 2 of 3 planned doses

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Cuba’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate Soberana 02 has achieved 62% efficacy with the administration of 2 of its 3 planned doses, an intermediate result that exceeds the 50% required by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), the island’s scientific officials said Saturday.

“We can report that we have achieved 62% efficacy with the administration of 2 doses of the Soberana 02 vaccine, a “comforting” result because it was achieved with the strains currently circulating in the country,” said Vicente Vérez director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, which developed the immunizer.

The W.H.O. demands an efficacy of at least 50% for a candidate to be accepted as a vaccine. “In 2 weeks we should have a final result on efficacy with the 3 doses, which we hope will be higher,” added the scientist.

For 13 months Cuba has been working on 5 vaccine candidates, and 2 of them, Soberana 02 and Abdala, have completed the third and final trial phase. Earlier this month, the country announced clinical trials in children of the 2 Covid-19 vaccine candidates developed on the island.

The trials will cover the 3 to 18 year old age group, split into two groups. Adolescents aged 12 to 18 will be the first to be immunized. Children between the ages of 3 and 11 will follow, according to the Center for State Control of Drugs, Equipment, and Medical Devices (CECMED).

The study “aims to assess the safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity” of Soberana 02 in minors. According to officials, the approval of clinical trials is based on the increase in cases of the disease in children and the safety of the immunizers demonstrated in other trials previously conducted in the country.

According to CECMED, the vaccines have been shown to be “safe and well tolerated in adults.” The center reported that by May 27, 18,249 confirmed cases have been reported in minors, 983 of them in children under 1 year old.

“Although most children experience a mild form of the disease, it is dangerous because of the complications they may suffer during the period of infection and the consequent sequelae left by the disease,” CECMED pointed out.

Just like adult trials, the vaccines will be administered in 3 doses at 28-day intervals.

So far, Cuba has registered over 153,000 Covid-19 cases and 1,057 deaths from the disease, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, in the United States.

Given the recent surge in infections, the government launched a vaccination campaign for at-risk populations on May 12. The aim is for 70% of the 11.3 million population to be vaccinated by the end of August.

Source: Valor