Application of first anti-Covid-19 dose to health workers and Biocubafarma is completed.

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 12 (ACN) Health personnel from Havana and Biocubafarma, participating in the intervention study of Soberana 02 and Abdala, two of Cuba's anti-COVID-19 candidates, are currently vaccinated with the first dose.

'The administration of the first dose of the Cuban vaccine candidates Soberana 02 and Abdala to the 75,000 health workers and Biocubafarma who are part of the intervention study developed in Havana concluded,' the country's Ministry of Public Health reported on its account on the social network Twitter.

It is a controlled intervention study for at-risk populations, which includes healthcare workers and the Group of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries of Cuba (BioCubaFarma).

The administration of the first dose of Soberana 02 to this population group began last March 23 in Havana and the intervention with Abdala started on March 29.

The purpose of the controlled intervention trial, common in clinical-epidemiological studies, is to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of vaccination with these candidates in population groups at high risk of contracting the infection, of getting sick and of spreading the COVID-19 contagion.

The study aims to demonstrate the direct and indirect effects on the prevention of symptomatic disease, to assess the effect in preventing severe disease and to test the consequences of the injectable on mortality from this virus.

Soberana 02, designed by the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, is in phase III of clinical trials in Havana with a sample of 44,000 10 volunteers, to whom the second dose is already being applied; in addition, the intervention study will reach another 150,000, including workers in the health and biopharmaceutical sectors.

Abdala, from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, is administered to 48 thousand volunteers in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Guantanamo during the third stage of clinical trials, also with the application of the second dose.