National newspapers, television and radio underscored that this way, Cuba becomes the first country in Latin America to obtain an effective injectable vaccine at a time when new variants of the coronavirus are being detected in several countries.

Mexican media pointed out that the entire Cuban population will be vaccinated with the Cuban-made vaccine, whose 62-percent efficacy can be further increased with a third booster shot of the Soberana Plus vaccine candidate.

The press quoted that IFV General Director Vicente Verez, who stated on television that that percentage was obtained after the intermediate analyses of the results in the volunteers to whom two doses of Soberana 02 were administrated at 28-day periods.

This formula, one of five being tested in Cuba, is a subunit conjugate vaccine -traditionally very safe- that combines virus antigen and tetanus toxoid to stimulate the immune system response, the media reported.

Verez described the result as ‘very comforting’, because it has been obtained in a scenario of circulation ‘of the most worrying variants due to their transmissibility.’

He also stressed that these results comply with WHO’s requirements to consider a candidate under study as an ‘effective vaccine’, since a minimum 50-percent efficacy is established by the international specialized agency.

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