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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Will-Produce-100-Million-Doses-of-Its-COVID-19-Vaccine-20210120-0024.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Will-Produce-100-Million-Doses-of-Its-COVID-19-Vaccine-20210120-0024.html</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Cuba Will Produce 100 Million Doses of Its COVID-19 Vaccine</h1>January 20, 2021</div>
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<p>"We are reorganizing
our production capacities because we really have a lot of demand for the
vaccine and we have to prepare ourselves," Vicente Vérez, director of
the Finlay Institute, told a group of journalists at a conference in
which he gave a tour of the laboratory where the vaccine against
COVID-19 is manufactured.</p>
<p>The Finlay
Institute has created both Soberana 02 and Soberana 01, the latter in a
less advanced research phase. Other biotechnology centers on the island
are working on two more vaccine candidates, Abdala and Mambisa.<br> </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>RELATED:</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Soberana-02-Vaccine-Starts-Phase-II-of-Clinical-Trials-in-Cuba-20210119-0007.html" target="_blank"><strong>Cuba's Soberana 02 Vaccine Starts Phase II of Clinical Trials</strong></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The 100 million doses planned would be only of Soberana 02. There are
already countries interested in acquiring it, such as Vietnam, Iran,
and Venezuela, among others, with which the island has collaboration
agreements, including Pakistan and India, Vérez said.</p>
<p>This week began the
second part of a Phase II trial of this product with 900 patients -- who
joined about a hundred from the first stage -- at a polyclinic in the
capital; The Associated Press reported the day before.</p>
<p>The volunteers -- one
group of whom received a placebo as part of the study, although they
will be immunized with the actual vaccine once it is over -- said they
reported no discomfort. Even some neighbors at the polyclinic came
forward to volunteer as part of the trial.</p>
<p>After being injected,
people--ranging in age from 19 to 80 years--waited at the same
polyclinic before returning home and were followed up at 24, 48, and 72
hours.</p>
<p>Vérez stressed that the antigen is safe after pointing out that it
does not contain the live virus. Still, parts of it, so—according to the
expert—its placement generates immunity but does not cause significant
reactions and therefore does not need extra refrigeration, like other
candidates in the world.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Finlay's
researchers are working with countries such as Italy and Canada to
verify the impact of these vaccines -especially Soberana 01- on people
who have already had COVID-19 and are convalescent but at risk of
reinfection. Effectiveness is also being assessed for the impact of new
mutations such as the one described in Great Britain, Japan, or
California.</p>
<p>Over the next few
weeks, vaccination will be extended to 150,000 people on the island,
confirmed Vérez, on the way to mass immunization, and a test will be
carried out in February to protect children with Soberana 02, he said.</p>
<p>After several months
of keeping the pandemic under control, Cuba suffered a resurgence at the
beginning of this year, after the opening of its airports and despite
having a preventive health protocol. From March to date, 19,122
infections and 180 deaths have accumulated on the island.</p>
<p>The scientist did not
offer details of the price that the vaccine will have for its sale to
other countries. In Cuba, its administration will be free and voluntary.</p>
<p>Despite being a small
country, Cuba has a developed scientific pole that produces almost all
the vaccines it needs and state-of-the-art medicines.</p>
<p>"Cuba's strategy of
commercializing the vaccine has a combination of humanity and impact on
health and the need of our system to sustain (financially) the
production of vaccine and medicines for the country," expressed Vérez.</p>
<p>"We are not a
multinational where the (financial) return is the number one reason," he
added. "We work the other way around; creating more health and return
is a consequence; it will never be the priority."</p>
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