On July 9, Cuba’s medical regulatory agency, CECMED, granted emergency use authorization to the Abdala Covid vaccine, one of five such vaccines being produced on the island. Clinical trials showed that Abdala, which requires three doses, had an efficacy rate of 92.28%. Officials at CECMED reported that the vaccine had gone through very rigorous trials, that the production facility had been visited and inspected, and that data from the trials had been studied meticulously, El Cronista Comercial reported.
This is the first Ibero-American COVID vaccine to be produced, and has already been used in Cuba to inoculate groups of volunteers, high-risk groups, and the elderly, totalling over two million people so far. With the EUA, the government can now launch its mass vaccination program with the goal to vaccinate 70% of the population by the end of August and 100% by year’s end.
