Production of the Soberana 2 vaccine against Covid-19, in Havana on January 20, 2021. -

Yamil Lage / AP / SIPA

It is an ambitious goal.

Cuba hopes to produce 100 million doses of its vaccine against the coronavirus in 2021. The goal is to immunize the entire population of the island from this year, announced Wednesday the director of the Finlay institute, which controls two of the four projects in clinical trials.

“We have the capacity to manufacture 100 million doses” of Soberana 2, the most advanced vaccine candidate, assured Dr. Vicente Vérez at a press conference, specifying that “the production phase” has already started.

And "if all goes well, this year the entire Cuban population will be vaccinated".

Soberana 2 moved to phase IIb on Monday, which involves 900 applicants.

If successful, it would enter phase III, the last before approval, with 150,000 volunteers, in March.

The Finlay Institute recently signed an agreement with the Pasteur Institute in Iran for the latter country to also participate in this phase III.

Four vaccines in preparation

In addition, Soberana 1, currently in phase I, should move to “phase II-III” in February and will also be tested on people recovering from the disease, according to Dr. Pérez.

In total, four candidates are in preparation: Soberana 1 and 2, Abdala and Mambisa, all in clinical trial phase (phase I or II).

The first three are given by injection, the fourth by nasal spray.

The objective is to launch the general vaccination campaign in the first half of the year: for Cubans, the vaccine would be free but not compulsory.

It would also be offered as an “option” to tourists visiting the island, said Dr Vérez.

Do with the American embargo

Even though it is facing a recent rebound in cases, Cuba remains one of the least affected countries in the region by the pandemic, with 19,122 cases including 180 deaths, for 11.2 million inhabitants.

Under an American embargo since 1962, the country has often had to find its own remedies, in drugs as in vaccines.

Because, if the embargo spares health products, in fact many banks refuse any transaction related to the island, for fear of sanctions.

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