Nicolas Maduro says Venezuela will produce the Cuban Covid-19 vaccine
Venezuela hopes to produce two million doses per month of a Cuban coronavirus vaccine, President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday. Earlier in the week, the government claimed that it would have already purchased the 30 million vaccines it needs but for the United States' economic sanctions.
Cuba has developed four vaccines that are in various stages of clinical trials. The island nation has already started vaccinating its health care workers with its two vaccines still in the third phase of clinical trials. One of those is Abdala, which is being given to 124,000 health care workers, while 48,000 volunteers are taking part in a parallel Phase 3 clinical study.
If the trials are successful, the relatively small, communist island of 11 million — that has been sanctioned by the United States for decades — would be one of the just very few countries with vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic, drawing worldwide attention to its potential feat. In addition, it would be the first Covid-19 vaccine entirely developed and produced in Latin America.
The other countries that have developed vaccines, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, and India, have significantly larger economies and population sizes.
President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores have received their first dose of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Venezuelan state television reported, while the country received a second shipment of the vaccine. Images of both Maduro and Flores receiving their doses were broadcast on state television. Maduro said he felt “fine” after receiving the injection.
Around 44,000 people are getting the Soberana 2 vaccine as part of Phase 3 double-blind study. An additional 150,000 health care workers are being inoculated with Soberana 2 as part of an “interventional study.” Unlike the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the Soberana 2 uses synthesized coronavirus proteins to trigger the body's immune system.
“We see that the vaccine is very safe, the potential risk for applying it to more people is decreasing, and the potential benefits are increasing. There is evidence of certain efficacy, and that is why we decided to expand the interventional studies,” Dr. Vicente Verez, director of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, told NBC News.
Venezuela's vaccine rollout has been slow, with the country receiving just 250,000 Russian Sputnik V vaccine doses and half a million from China's Sinopharm to date. Maduro said his government would also sign deals to produce vaccines "with Russia, with China, and with other countries." The government said it had paid just over half of the amount it needed to acquire 11.3 million doses through the World Health Organization's Covax mechanism. Officially, the country of 30 million has had 175,000 cases and some 1,700 deaths, but observer groups such as Human Rights Watch question the numbers, which they say are likely vastly underestimated.
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