Although health authorities have yet to set the starting date for mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Cuba, authorities in Havana are working at an accelerated pace to prepare clinical sites that will undertake the important, complex task.
Havana, Cuba.- According to the digital version of the weekly Tribuna de La Habana, next Saturday, April 24, both the logistic and human resources to guarantee the quality of the process should be defined, including the selected medical offices and polyclinics.
As soon as the decision is made to begin mass vaccination, 1,770,000 residents are expected to be immunized in the Cuban capital, at an average rate of 85 subjects per clinic, per day, which will require careful organization and rigorous supervision to ensure smooth implementation of plans.
The Cubadebate website reports that the candidate vaccines Abdala, from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and Soberana 02, from the Finlay Vaccine Institute, will be administered.
A Phase III clinical trial of Soberana 02 is underway in Havana, involving more than 44,000 volunteers in eight municipalities, in addition to an intervention study in high-risk populations.
This research, common in clinical-epidemiological analysis, includes a total of 150,000 subjects, with more than 70,000 workers in healthcare and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, while another 124,000 in Havana Guantánamo, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Sancti Spiritus have received the Abdala candidate.
NEW RECORD OF DAILY COVID-19 INFECTIONS IN CUBA
Cuba reported a new record of daily COVID-19 infections with 1,207. There were also 12 deaths due to the disease over the last 24 hours.
The island accumulates 97 967 infections and 559 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
In his daily national televised briefing, the National Director of Epidemiology, Dr. Francisco Duran, said that 5 302 positive cases were admitted to hospitals.
Of the 1183 autochthonous cases, Havana reported a staggering 680. Matanzas followed with 97, and Granma with 82.
In the last two weeks in April, Cuba has reported 15 121 COVID-19 infections, not including imported cases.
The month has an average, 1,032 cases per day, and 134 deaths so far making it the most lethal in all pandemic.
