The minister and presidential advisor Cecilia Nicolini elaborated details of their visit at a press conference after arriving in Buenos Aires on the progress of the Cuban vaccines Soberana02 and Abdala, two of the five candidates on which that Caribbean nation is working on.

These have been intense, very productive days, said Vizzotti after adding that President Alberto Fernández and his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, had talked about working together to cooperate and accelerate the process.

The official pointed out that, in the same way as it was done between Argentina and Mexico to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine for the region, they hope to contribute with the island not only for the access of our countries to vaccines, she said, but also for all Latin America.

Vizzotti explained that during her visit to Havana they were able to learn first-hand about the development of its vaccine candidates and pointed out that Cuba has a system of science, technology and researchers, which close a virtuous circle of what the development of clinical trials and large-scale production used in that country means.

After recalling that the island produces eight of the 13 vaccines in its immunization program, she highlighted the progress in phase III of Soberana 02 and Abdala, and pointed out that they signed a confidentiality agreement.

She further said that they visited the production plants and a vaccination center where they observed the health intervention process carried out after the study of the more than 40,000 people who participated in the clinical trials.

mh/abo/ga/may