Last Updated on August 20, 2020, 9:53 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Cuba would start clinical trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine called “Soberana 01” (“Sovereign 01”) next week.
The vaccine has been developed by its state-run Finlay Institute, with results due in February, state-run media said on Wednesday.
The potential coronavirus vaccine would be delivered in two injections during the trials, which would involve 676 people who would be aged between 19 and 80 years and conclude on January 11, 2021.
The Communist-run island takes pride in its biopharmaceutical industry, which was started by former revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, and the industry is also an essential hard currency earner, and it has already produced several vaccines.
Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, told Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina that Cuba could even be one of the places it could choose to produce the vaccine from November onwards.
Authorities say their treatments for the new coronavirus have already helped it reduce mortality in sufferers.
They touted interferon long before other producers started hailing the merits of the decades-old antiviral agent that boosts the immune system and say dozens of countries have expressed an interest in buying it.
The country with 11 million inhabitants has registered just a handful of deaths in the last few months, bringing the total to 88 deaths for 3,482 confirmed cases since the start of its outbreak in March.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
