Anti-COVID-19 health intervention with Abdala vaccine candidate begins in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, May 12 (ACN) Health intervention in at-risk groups and territories begins this Wednesday in the capital's municipalities of Regla, Guanabacoa, Habana del Este and San Miguel del Padrón with the anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate Abdala, developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).

The three doses of the immunogen (0-14-28 days) will be applied to 396,382 people over 19 years of age in more than 400 clinical sites, at a daily rate of 100 Havana residents per vaccinatorium.

In this regard, the province's health authorities informed that the conditions are in place to carry out this action, including lighting, ventilation and the necessary spaces to comply with the physical distancing and guarantee the conservation of the bulbs.

The vast majority of the family doctor's and nurse practitioner's offices will be used for the administration of Abdala, although other premises have been set up for this purpose.

Similarly, there are spaces for the medical check-up of the subjects prior to the injection and observation rooms, where they will remain for one hour after the application of the vaccine candidate, under the supervision of a staff member.

The administration of the drug will begin in a staggered manner, first with those over 60 years of age, followed by the population aged 40 to 59 years and concluding with the group aged 19 to 39 years.

The lists, updated by family doctors and nurses based on the number of people residing in each municipality, exclude pregnant women, postpartum women, people allergic to thiomersal and those affected by an acute infectious disease with antibiotic treatment.

Those who were positive to COVID-19, those with decompensated chronic diseases such as arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus and heart disease, and oncology patients under treatment will also not be included.

At the headquarters of the Electronic Health Information Network (Infomed) in Havana, a room was set up to serve as a coordinating center for vaccination in order to ensure and organize the health intervention in the province.

Through this channel, daily information will flow on how the process is going and the detection of possible incidents, as well as the systematic monitoring of all the health areas involved, and a report will be issued based on the behavior of the vaccination, for which eight teams will verify every day the quality of the intervention in the different sites.

In order to achieve effectiveness, we also count on the support of the Provincial and Municipal Defense Councils, the students of Medical Sciences, the university students in general and the mass organizations.

As of May 25, the municipalities of Arroyo Naranjo, Boyeros and Cotorro will be incorporated to the immunization with the vaccine candidate, with which 382,016 individuals are expected to be immunized, for a total of 778,398 capital citizens vaccinated with Abdala.