The beginnings of the massive vaccination in Cuba coincided with a significant increase of infection with COVID 19 this fact has generated anxiety in the population about the effectiveness of the national vaccines.

Eduardo Martínez Díaz, Doctor in Sciences and President of Bio Cuba Farma, apeared on TV at the program Mesa Redonda yesterday. He explained that the main cause in the increase of positive cases to the disease is due to the incidence of the variant Delta of the corona virus SARS-COV-2, with especial characteristics that makes it more contagious and lethal than its predecessors.

He gave examples of countries with high vaccination coverage (Israel or United States) that have had an increase in the infection after the appearance of Delta, as it has occurred in countries where the strain is predominant. That is the case of Cuba.

Nevertheless – Martinez Diaz- said that studies have shown that Delta does not scape the immunity induced by the vaccines known in the world, although there is a decrease in their levels of effectiveness. It is the reason why vaccinated people are reported infected.

What has happened to Cuban vaccines? Vaccination started in May, in four municipalities of Havana and since the end of that process there only eight weeks have passed to measure effectiveness. The President of Bio Cuba Farma  said “Six or four weeks have passed for other municipalities, I mean, effectiveness is beginning to be measured  now.   

The director showed comparative data of the Cuban capital with the rest of the country in a tendencies graph. It was in regards to the period between

May and August 24th.

Havana had a higher incidence than the average one in the country, in May. Currently with more than 60% of the population of the capital, already vaccinated an incidence level below the average of the archipelago is seen, Martinez Diaz said.

He said in detail that the first four municipalities where the vaccination started, before this process, were over the average incidence of Havana as a whole are now is below it.

The variant Delta started to circulate in the capital in July and cases has increased. He said “a tendency of the rest of the municipalities to get closer to the figures concerning the first four municipalities which started the vaccination has been seen, because the rest of the municipalities have already reached the        immunity maturing period (14 days after the third dose).     

He declared: nevertheless, lethality in the capital- that was higher in May, than the average in the country - started to decrease at a point that, in the first four municipalities that started massive immunization is six times less than in the rest of the nation.

“There is evidence showing that our vaccines work”, the President of BioCubaFarma, said. At the same time he mentioned that in the municipalities where vaccination has started and enough time has passed to develop effectiveness studies of the vaccines, the results are positive.

The security and innocuousness of the Cuban vaccines is guaranteed

The Doctor in Sciences Marta Ayala Ávila, member of the Board of the Political Party and General Manager of the Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología (CIGB) talked about the progress of the pediatric clinical trial Ismaelillo with the vaccine Abdala which develops its third phase in the city of Camaguey, in subjects between 3 and 18 years old.

She informed that the cycle, in the case of subjects from 12 to 18 years old finished and the youngest ones will finish next week.

She specified that 1190 doses has been administered among 592 children included in the clinical trial and once the results are obtained the emergency use of Abdala for the protection of our children, teenagers and young people will be asked for, as this is the population with more possibilities of infection. Up to now, people under 18 years old have been vaccinated; more than 3 million have the three doses complete scheme. 

She insisted that the government has the intention of achieving general immunization, facing the Delta strain incidence, which has put the effectiveness of the vaccines to the test in the world. Industry in general is centered in increasing the production and control of the quality before releasing each lot.

More than 16 million doses have been distributed to date and 5449480 Cuban people have received at least one injection. The figures will increase as the massive vaccination extends, started after the approval of its emergency use, last July 9th. 

 Ayala Avila detailed the information obtained with the vaccine Mambisa , one of the seven  that will be administered via nasal are significant. Studies up to date, show that 78% of the ones who have the solution develop a higher immunity, as it increases the presence of immunoglobulin a (IgA) in the mucus and saliva.

The study of Mambisa vaccine is now in its Phase I-II in Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras in Havana. Stimulation in the body of an intra nasal barrier against the infection that will prevent the replication of SARS-COV-2 is predicted. It would reduce the spreading in the nostrils and in the high respiratory tract the way it goes into the body and spreads.

Ayala Ávila cleared up that Cuban vaccines have security and innocuousness as advantages. “The fact guarantees that patients do not develop any infection once they are inoculated, as they receive protein base formulations, but our inmunogens give the possibility of combining among them, and with others, to reinforce the body defenses”.

The director of CIGB said that facing the circulation of strains like Delta, having prioritized in the vaccination scheme vulnerable and risk groups is an advantage of the country, in order to have everyone ready to battle with COVID-19, avoid the critical ways of the disease and death, due to complications.

Some sovereign news

Doctor Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director of the Instituto Finlay de Vacunas, revealed important news related to the vaccination and immunization process of the Cuban population against SARS-COV-2 virus.

He gave precisions about the development of the clinical trail Soberana Pediatria, through which the first two doses of Soberana 02 were applied to children between 12 and 18 years old and 93 % respond in a positive way. In the case of the children between 3 and 11 years old, the indicator was higher, with a 93 % of effectiveness, which is excellent news.

Having these results, the required documentation has been given and an authorization to use the formulation in an emergency situation in the pediatric population was asked; from two years old on, and 4.2 million doses are needed for that, which could be ready for next September 15.

It was explained that there are evidence of a higher immunological response in children, compared to the one with adults, and an example is that  in the group of adolescents who received the third dose it considerably increased their anty bodies level.

A promising news is that Soberana Plus vaccine, design as a reinforcement for others like Soberana 02, could also be used to strengthen the immune capacity of vaccines from other latitudes such as AztraZeneca, Sputnik and Sinovac, and there are some countries interested.

The director of the IFV said it was relevant that the British medical journal The Lancet, one of the most prestigious of the world, had accepted to publish the results of the study Phase I in convalescents, one of the first to transcend there.

He announced that after concluding the Phase II study a request for consent was made to the regulatory authority to extend the emergency use in  pediatric convalescents with Soberana Plus, and 500 000 doses will be needed, which are in the production process and should be ready in the middle of September.

Doctor Vérez Bencomo explained that there is another study that is been carried out. It is the one of Soberana 02, and one of Soberana Plus, which should conclude in October in the municipality of Cruces and Palmira, in the province of Cienfuegos, which is having important effects.

The doctor remained of the moment when they talked, for the first time, about an heterologous vaccination scheme in Cuba, since the combination of various immunogenous, in that case two doses of Soberana 02 and one dose of Soberana Plus, and the importance of presenting the immune system of the body different forms of antigens was taken into account. By that time it was a very much advance idea but today results make it a happy reality.

Taken from Granma