As part of the vaccination strategies of the Ministry of Public Health, and in view of the increase in cases of respiratory diseases, the Baconao-II clinical study began today in Santiago de Cuba, aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the Abdala drug against new strains of COVID-19.

According to Francisco Hernández, head of the Clinical Trials Department at the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), the country’s broad immunisation coverage allows the virus to be kept under control; however, it is necessary to know the levels of protection of a new booster dose against more serious infections.

According to the specialist, those who received the three initial doses of the Abdala scheme, as well as the booster doses more than eight months ago, can take part in the survey, carried out at the Saturnino Lora General Hospital in this city.

He stressed the intention to include 500 volunteers from the province, aged between 19 and 60 years, in order to also study the effectiveness of Soberana, a preventive injection against the new coronavirus applied at that time to adolescents.

Sandra Caridad Laurencio, a doctor at the Joaquín Castillo Military Hospital and a volunteer in the study, said she was proud to participate in the research phase, as it allowed her to confirm her confidence in the quality of the medicine and the competence of its creators.

According to Víctor Hugo Leyva, the highest representative of the Santiago press, once again offering his support to science is an opportunity to contribute to the health care of the people through the full knowledge of the scope of a vaccine that has filled an entire nation with hope.

Three years after the conclusion of the Abdala clinical trials in the south-eastern region of the country, with the hospital itself at the centre of the process, the CIGB is carrying out new trials, accompanied by a re-immunisation strategy organised by the sector’s highest authorities.