The “top 100” list includes sites spread across 56 countries. Its publication begins an effort to designate geological sites around the world that are iconic and recognized by the entire geoscientific community by virtue of their impact on the understanding of the planet and its history.

The IUGS Executive Committee has endorsed these 100 sites as “the first and inspiring steps towards a broader program that will recognize those geosites with the highest scientific importance in the world.”

In the certificate of the International Union of Geological Sciences that includes the terraces of Maisí in the list of The First 100 Geological Heritage Sites of the IUGS, it is read that:

“An IUGS Geological Heritage Site is a key location with geological features and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences throughout history.”

More than 200 specialists from almost 40 nations and 10 international organizations, representing different disciplines of Earth sciences, have participated in the selection.

As part of the process, 181 candidate sites in 56 countries were proposed, then evaluated by 33 international experts who defined the IUGS Top 100 Geological Heritage Sites list.

On the IUGS website, the Maisí terraces are presented as “one of the best preserved sequences of elevated marine and coral terraces in the world due to the interaction of the global sea level and tectonics.”

It is considered that they are “an important source of information to reveal the tectonics of the Greater Antilles within the Caribbean geological domain during the Quaternary period (…) The marine terraces in Cuba can be correlated with global changes in sea level in the Quaternary.

“In addition to being in an area regularly hit by hurricanes, this area is important for studying wave energy during those weather events.”

The Maisí terraces share space on the world list with iconic places such as the Grand Canyon or the Yellowstone volcanic and hydrothermal system (USA), the Perito Moreno glacier (Argentina), the Iguazú falls (Argentina-Brazil), Torres del Paine (Chile), the caldera of Santorini (Greece), the inselberg or mount island Mount Uluru (Australia), the sea of ​​sand in the Namib desert (Namibia), the Victoria Falls (Zambia-Zimbabwe) or the Shilin Stone Forest (China).

There are also sites with some of the oldest rocks on Earth (South Africa), traces of primitive life from Australia and China, some of the best dinosaur fossil remains from Canada, the earliest evidence of early hominin development from Tanzania and the sea rocks of the top of the world (Mount Everest).

IUGS Top 100 Geological Heritage Sites List:

Interglacial coralline and raised marine terraces of the Quaternary of Maisí

Geological period:

Quaternary

Main geological interest:

Geomorphology and active geological processes

Stratigraphy and sedimentology

Location:

Punta de Maisi, Guantanamo province, Cuba

20° 08′ 10” N, 074° 13′ 59” W

In a note signed by the Geology Directorate of the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Institute of Geology and Paleontology of Cuba, it is highlighted that “the recognition of the IUGS gives visibility to these sites, identifies them as of maximum scientific value.

“These are sites that served to develop the science of geology, especially its early history. They are the world’s best demonstrations of geological features and processes. They are the places of fabulous discoveries of the Earth and its history”.

It is also recalled that the scientific community has long called for the establishment of a world program with global standards for the recognition of sites of great international importance.

“The IUGS Geological Heritage Sites project, approved by IUGS and UNESCO, has created the right conditions for collaboration towards this great milestone, which will inspire the work of this ambitious program in the near future.”

They also point out that many of the “top 100″ are well protected in national parks, geoparks, geosites and nature reserves, “but many are not.”

They add that “recognition and visibility of the IUGS Top 100 Geological Heritage Sites can lead to their increased appreciation, their use as educational resources and, most importantly, their preservation.”

On the left, shaded relief superimposed on a satellite image showing the terraces. On the right, topographic profile showing the inner edge of each terrace level in the Maisí area. Image: IUGS.

Currently, Maisí is a protected natural area. In the future, considering its internationally recognized geological value, it could become a geopark, as part of a process that began in 2021 with the Viñales Geopark.

According to specialists, due to its remarkable geological diversity, there is potential in Cuba for the creation of around 20 geoparks.

According to reports from the Minem Geology Directorate, in the first quarter of 2023 the geological-morphological study will be completed to assess the creation of a geopark in La Gran Piedra (Santiago de Cuba). Likewise, next year a similar study will begin in the Sierra de Cubitas (Camagüey).

Another study, with a start date in the last quarter of 2022, will have the same objective in the Guamuhaya massif, in the center of the Island.

The International Union of Geological Sciences is one of the largest scientific organizations in the world, with 121 national members, including Cuba, bringing together more than a million geoscientists.

Some information about the terraces of Maisí:

-The marine and coral terraces are formed by coral limestones with abundant fossil remains, ranging from the Upper Pleistocene Jaimanitas formation (marine isotope stage 5e, 122 ± 6,000 years. In short: about 122,000 years) and older units within the Pleistocene.

-Some 28 levels of terraces are observed, with an elevation of up to 560 m.

-Most of the terraces are very well preserved. Fossil tidal niches, caverns, and other karst features are found. These represent approximately two million years’ worth of sea level fluctuations.

-The zone is tectonically linked to the Oriente transform fault zone in eastern Cuba, which is the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates, where block uplifts of 0.33 mm/year are recorded.

-Geomorphologically, the area is a large ring about 75 km long that covers the eastern coastal zone of Cuba like a ladder that is narrow to the north and south, and wider in the eastern corner. The steps are cut by rivers that form gorges with large transverse outcrops. Due to tilting and folding, the same step changes altitude along the coast. The lower terrace has blocks overturned from the sea by hurricanes and features of landslides such as crowns are observed.

-This area of ​​Maisí, like other marine terraces on the coast of Cuba, is part of an international collaboration research project between the Institute of Geology and Paleontology (IGP) of Cuba and several French universities. Researchers take coral samples and carry out measurements in the field and analyzes in laboratories to determine in greater detail how and when the marine terraces of the archipelago formed.

(By: Deny Extremera San Martin/Cubadebate)

Over the course of the last three years, the researchers asked a group of 64 volunteers to wear nylon stockings on their arms for six hours a day for several days. Maria Elena De Obaldia, the first author of the study and a former postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University, built a “two-choice olfactometer assay”: an acrylic glass chamber into which the researchers placed two of the stockings. The study team then released yellow fever mosquitoes — scientifically called Aedes aegypti — into the chamber and noted which sock attracted them the most.

This test allowed the researchers to separate study participants into “mosquito magnets,” whose socks attracted a lot of mosquitoes, and “low attractors,” who didn’t seem as attractive to insects. The scientists examined the skin of the mosquito magnets and found 50 molecular compounds that were higher in these participants than in the others.

“We had no preconceived notions about what we would find,” Vosshall, who is also chief scientific officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, told CNN. But one difference was particularly distinctive: Mosquito magnets have much higher rates of carboxylic acid in the skin than low attractors.

Carboxylic acids are found in sebum, the oily substance that creates a barrier and helps keep skin hydrated. Carboxylic acids are large molecules, Vosshall explained. “They’re not that smelly by themselves,” she said. But beneficial bacteria on the skin “chew these acids, which produce the characteristic human odor,” which may be what attracts mosquitoes, according to Vosshall.
The odor of skin secretions plays a role

One of the study participants, identified as Subject 33, was the center of attention for mosquitoes: the subject’s stockings were 100 times more attractive to mosquitoes than those of the rest of the participants.
And the level of human attraction appeared to remain fairly constant over time for the participants who were tracked over the three-year period, Vosshall said.

Subject 33, for example, “never stopped being the most attractive human being” to mosquitoes, which could be “bad news for those who are mosquito magnets.” When it comes to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the females prefer to use human blood to fuel their egg production, speeding up their search for humans to hunt. And these mini-predators use a variety of mechanisms to identify and choose the humans they bite, Vosshall said.
Carboxylic acids are just one piece of the puzzle that explains how pesky insects choose their targets. Body heat and the carbon dioxide we release when we breathe are also a factor of attraction.

Scientists don’t yet know why carboxylic acids seem to attract mosquitoes so strongly, Vosshall said. But the next step could be to explore the effects of reducing carboxylic acids on the skin.
“You can’t completely remove natural moisturizers from your skin, that would be bad for your skin’s health.” However, Vosshall said dermatological products could minimize carboxylic acid levels and reduce mosquito bites.

“Each bite of these mosquitoes puts people in a dangerous situation for their health,” he said. “Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are contagious vectors for dengue, yellow fever and Zika. Those magnet people will be much more likely to get infected with those viruses.”

Mosquitoes evolved to hunt based on scent
Matthew DeGennaro, an associate professor at Florida International University who specializes in mosquito neurogenetics, told CNN that the study results help answer long-standing questions about what specific factors cause mosquitoes to choose some humans more. than others. He did not participate in the study.

“This study clearly shows that these acids are important,” he said. “Now the way mosquitoes perceive these carboxylic acids is interesting because these particular chemicals are really heavy, so they’re hard to smell from a distance.”

“It could be that these chemicals are altered by, say, the skin microbiome, and that causes a certain type of odour. Or it could be that other factors in the environment break down these chemicals a bit, so they’re easier for mosquitoes to detect.”

The results are also “a great example of how well insects can smell,” DeGennaro added. “This insect has evolved to hunt us.” For DeGennaro, the staying power of certain humans’ attractiveness is one of the most interesting aspects of the research.

“We didn’t know that there were very stable preferences of mosquitoes for certain people,” he said. “It might suggest that the skin microbiome is important, although they didn’t address that.”
Further research should explore the microbiome that exists on human skin to understand why mosquitoes are attracted to certain compounds over others, she said. And that could lead to better products to reduce mosquito bites and the spread of disease.

“I think if we understand why mosquitoes find a host, we can design new repellants that stop mosquitoes from detecting those chemicals,” DeGennaro said. “And this could be used to improve our current repellents.”

(With information from CNN in Spanish)

This was announced on Tuesday -as part of the 15th health for all fair, which takes place at the Pabexpo exhibition center-, engineer Alejandro César González Urquiza, member of the team that developed the ‘device, which clarified that the license It was awarded after a rigorous validation process.

Previously, he explained, two satisfactory experimental tests were carried out on pigs, which were ventilated under the supervision of the regulatory authority. Subsequently, a stability diagnosis of the equipment was approved, which was put into service for a long continuous period, without showing any failures.

After all the validation process carried out with Cecmed, where tests were carried out on the software, the pneumatic system and the electronics of the equipment, the entity granted the authorization for use in humans, in order to testing it in patients with ventilatory needs. .

Professor Alberto Martínez Sardiñas, anesthesiologist, intensivist and project manager, indicated that two of these devices are already located at the Calixto García Hospital and the Neurology Institute, respectively, while the third, which is now on display at the Fair, He will be transferred to the Hospital Miguel Enríquez, also in Havana.

He specified that within ten days clinical trials should begin in ventilated patients of these hospitals, with medical personnel previously trained and advised by the developers of the device.

Martínez Sardiñas pointed out that this equipment represents a possible solution to provide all forms of ventilation to severe and critical patients in Cuba. It was born from the difficulties of importing these devices, which during the covid-19 acquired a high cost.

Doctor of Medical Sciences Luis Velázquez Pérez, president of the ACC, highlighted that the new Academy of Sciences of Cuba, founded in 1962, was the first multidisciplinary scientific institution in the country.

It had been preceded by the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana (1861), then the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana during the Republic.

“Núñez Jiménez had the wisdom to create an institution for the entire country. It was what was sowing the revolutionary process, justice and social inclusion throughout the nation,” said Velázquez Pérez.

“The new Cuban Academy of Sciences has gone through several stages and we have tried to carry forward the continuity of the thought that gave rise to it and encouraged its first years. It is necessary to go to that great ocean that is history to transcend what others conceived”, he affirmed.

The new Academy of Sciences of Cuba was founded in a context of intense cultural, educational and scientific work in the country: schools were created in cities and countryside, universities; new teachers and scientists were being trained; the University Reform had entered into force and the Literacy Campaign had been carried out.

The National Commission of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, the name it took in the law that gave rise to it, initially had 10 members (four from natural sciences, four from social sciences, one from technical sciences and one from medicine). ). Others would join later.

Núñez associated the project with valuable members of the intelligentsia that remained in the country, as can be seen in the composition of the National Commission. Also, to create and direct research institutes that will lead scientific development in different sectors.

The founding document (Law 1011/1962) established the need to concentrate the available resources in an institution where the various branches, both natural and social, were represented. Its national scope was also defined and, as a function, the creation of its own scientific organizations.

Among the first institutes created from the institution, for whose headquarters the National Capitol was chosen, would be those of Geography and Geology, History, Biology and Ethnology and Folklore, all in 1962, as well as the Department of Anthropology (later the Institute of Archeology); the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy (1963) and the Department of Meteorology and Astronomy (1964); the Sugar Cane, Oceanology and Soil Research Institutes (1964); Literature and Linguistics and Meteorology (1965), and Nuclear Physics (1969) and Astronomy (1970).

Also, the Felipe Poey Natural History Museum (with antecedents in the Museum of the Speleological Society, closed in the fifties), opened in 1964 in the halls of the National Capitol, in whose spaces more than 3,800 pieces of art were exhibited. the most diverse fields.

It included a planetarium and a scale reproduction of Cave No. 1 in Punta del Este.

Along with the emergence of a network of institutes, a mass of researchers dedicated full time to science was developing, recalled one of the participants in the session. The role of the new ACC in launching scientific research, anchored in the country’s problems and challenges, was fundamental.

In 1972, the Academy had 3,524 workers, half of them graduates or technicians. Since its foundation, assistance and advice had been received from 1,032 foreign technicians.

In its structure there were six scientific sections, 23 institutes, four departments and six working groups, four museums, five nature reserves, two botanical gardens, 62 meteorological stations, two planetariums, six sugarcane research stations, a central library (the one of the Congress, in the Capitol) and 40 specialized libraries.

Today it has subsidiaries in several regions of the country. Its president said that new academics have been incorporated and “we are creating the status of associate scientist, people who

Durante el encuentro de este viernes en la sede de la institución, en La Habana Vieja, Liliana Núñez Veliz, presidenta de la Fundación Antonio Núñez Jiménez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre, recordó que se está celebrando un programa por el centenario del reconocido científico, geógrafo, arqueólogo y espeleólogo cubano, que se cumple el 20 de abril de 2023.

Destacó, además, las posibilidades de colaboración entre la Fundación y la ACC.

“En una entrevista poco antes de su muerte, Núñez Jiménez dijo que la geografía era lo que había dado sustento a todas las demás facetas de su vida y a la proyección que él dio a su vida como político, revolucionario, ciudadano…

“La geografía era, para él, la base de toda su vida. Y todo lo que hacemos en la Fundación y los distintos programas de trabajo siempre buscan valorar la geografía dentro de la sociedad cubana, su importancia, el papel de los geógrafos cubanos dentro de la economía, la sociedad, y el aporte que pueden dar para un desarrollo sostenible.

“Es el aporte que queremos traer a la Academia, sin poner fuera de nivel ninguna otra disciplina, sino, por el contrario, para que la Academia sirva de soporte equilibrado de todas las ciencias, que es su impronta más importante, su capacidad para fundar desde el equilibrio, crear instituciones con una incidencia desde todos los sectores: la física, la geografía, la historia, la sociedad, los suelos, la meteorología…”, afirmó.

En varias intervenciones, historiadores de la ciencia cubana destacaron, entre otras características de la nueva Academia fundada en 1962, la combinación del trabajo de campo con el trabajo de gabinete (en sus viajes oficiales a otros países, Núñez Jiménez aprovechaba para realizar exploraciones geográficas), la unión entre la ciencia y la cultura, y la vocación de acercar las ciencias naturales y las sociales en función de las nuevas realidades y necesidades del país.

También ofrecieron sus testimonios sobre Núñez Jiménez el geógrafo y espeleólogo Ángel Graña González, quien trabajó por años junto al fundador de la Sociedad Espeleológica de Cuba, y el ingeniero y doctor en Ciencias José Boris Altshuler, uno de los 10 miembros originales de la Comisión Nacional de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba.

El doctor en Ciencias Geológicas Manuel Iturralde Vinent destacó la vocación educativa e inclusiva de la nueva Academia de Ciencias Cubana.

“Éramos muchachos que empezábamos en las exploraciones, y a partir de ahí comenzamos a formar parte de la Academia, porque veníamos a ver exposiciones y exhibiciones, las colecciones. Participábamos como observadores… Íbamos allí, a los institutos, a recibir cursos y explicaciones. Nos ayudaban en los trabajos de campo, con recursos. Se unían a nosotros.

“En la Academia entraron aficionados a la ciencia, fueron a trabajar allí. Núñez, antes de ser científico, también andaba explorando, era un aficionado a la ciencia. Él entendió que esa era una verdadera cantera.

“En la Academia, desde el principio, los aficionados a las ciencias fueron ejes fundamentales. Hubo también científicos aficionados. Eso se logró porque se les abrieron las puertas, fueron recibidos como iguales por los que ya estaban instalados. Y esa fue una visión de Núñez”.

(By: Deny Extremera San Martin/Cubadebate)

PFAS molecules possess carbon-fluorine bonds so strong that they were considered virtually impossible to break. However, in their study published on August 18 in the journal Science, the researchers claim to have developed a low-energy process that degrades these chemicals at mild temperatures, using cheap reagents and leaving only harmless molecules containing carbon and fluoride ions.

“The fundamental understanding of how these materials degrade is probably the most important thing to come out of this study,” said William Dichtel, co-author of the research and professor of chemistry at Northwestern University (Illinois, United States).

He and his colleagues tested their low-energy method on PFCA molecules of different chain lengths and managed to break down 10 of them. The trick was to target a group of charged oxygen atoms at the very end of the PFCA molecules.

“The action triggered all of these reactions and started knocking fluorine atoms out of the compounds to form fluoride, which is the safest form of fluorine,” Dichtel explained. “Although carbon-fluorine bonds are extremely strong, that charged headgroup is the Achilles’ heel.”

The team then used computer simulations to test the onslaught of complex chemical reactions and confirm that the byproducts were relatively harmless.

According to Shira Joudan, a researcher in environmental chemistry at the University of York, and her colleague Rylan Lundgren, from the University of Alberta, the study “provides insight into how these apparently robust compounds can undergo near-complete decomposition under unexpectedly mild conditions.” ”. These findings could be “combined with the efficient capture of PFAS from contaminated environmental sites to provide a potential solution to the eternal chemical problem,” they conclude.

However, there are more than 12,000 different PFAS chemicals recognized to date, so more research is still needed to fully understand the reactivity of these molecules and determine whether they can all be degraded using similar approaches.

(Taken from RT in Spanish)

Institutions, hospitals, markets, shops and private businesses opened their doors as usual today.

There is peace in Cuba despite campaign of hatred and lies typical of media terrorism hype, said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Wednesday.

Díaz-Canel claimed the Cuban people act with courage and with no fear to confront the July 11th destabilization plans.

We call for harmony, unity, responsibility, solidarity and love, he pointed out, in the face of the campaign of lies that includes threats, defamations and instigations to murder orchestrated from social networks.

In the meeting, it was reported that over 7,600,000 Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala vaccine doeses have been applied; 17% of Cuban people completed the vaccination scheme, while 23.4% has received two doses, and 27.5% has just began treatment.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero assured that the Cuban people will be vaccinated before the end of 2021.

Marrero pointed out that 60% of the country’s inhabitants will be immunized in August, and 80% will start the vaccination scheme by using national drugs.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

In fact, clinical trials have already in children aging from 3 to 18 years.

Soberana-Pediatría is the first study authorized in Cuba for children aging three to 18.

350 minors and teens volunteered to be vaccinated in this first study and will be administered with a heterologous vaccination schedule of 0-28 and 56 days, with two Soberana 02 doses and one of Soberana Plus, both developed by the Finlay Vaccine Institute, and proving a 91.2% of effectiveness.

On Monday, the first 25 teens received their second Soberana 02 dose.

The sample is divided into two groups: the first made up of adolescents from 12 to 18 and the second of children from three to 11.

The objective of the trial is to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of these candidates.

Meanwhile, a pediatric clinical trial with Abdala candidate begins today in the province of Camagüey, with nearly 600 children and adolescents from that territory volunteering in two phases.

Dr. Sonia Resik, senior researcher, specified that in this clinical trial – named Ismaelillo – the candidate´s safety and immunogenicity will be assessed.

‘In its Phase I, the clinical trial was conceived in two stages: the first one will include teenagers aging 12 to 18 years who are physically and mentally fit, and who have the consent of their parents,’ said Resik.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

Health authorities are leading the process with this local product to also ensure that 60 percent of Cubans get their three doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccine shots by next August.

Localities like Cotorro, Boyeros and Arroyo Naranjo closed yesterday their vaccination scheme with this molecule from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), which showed 92.28 percent efficacy in clinical trials.

At the end of last May, a health intervention with ‘Abdala’ began in this capital, with 15 municipalities and more than two million inhabitants, that process has already been completed by other territories: East Havana, San Miguel del Padrón, Regla and Guanabacoa.

In this way, according to health officials in the capital, more than three million doses of the product have been administered in the almost 400 clinical sites available in all its localities.

In the coming days, they will complete vaccination in Habana Vieja, Centro Habana and Cerro, while people from Marianao, La Lisa, Playa, Plaza de la Revolución and Diez de Octubre are currently getting the second injection, the scheme presents three doses in zero, 14 and 28 days.

The vaccine, which just a few days ago received authorization from the Cuban regulatory authority for emergency use, is administered at the same time in 37 other municipalities in the country.

Cuba has recently faced a strong transmission of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, with daily numbers of infection that exceed six thousand and there are 263 thousand 86 confirmed patients in 16 months of pandemic.

Western province of Matanzas is currently the epicenter of the disease, and ‘Abdala’ is now being administered in the provincial capital municipality, as well as in Colón, Cárdenas, Limonar, Ciénaga de Zapata and Los Arabos.

Applied in eastern province of Santiago de Cuba as part of phase III of its clinical trial, and in a territory contributing also to a large number of infections, at the present time, towns of San Luis, Contramaestre, Songo-La Maya, Palma Soriano and the provincial capital itself are also receiving the immunogen.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

A three-dose regimen of the Abdala candidate vaccine has demonstrated an efficacy of 92.28 percent, placing it well above the World Health Organization (WHO) requirement of at least 50 percent, to be recognized as an anti-COVID-19 vaccine.

Over the course of 48 hours, from Saturday to Monday, Cuba, a small, poor country, has shaken the world, noted Party First Secretary and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, in a meeting, yesterday afternoon, with researchers at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), where Abdala was developed.

The President decided to meet with the scientists after learning about the efficacy analysis of Abdala at Monday’s meeting of the government’s COVID-19 prevention and control group.

He had visited the Finlay Vaccine Institute on Saturday, after learning that its Soberana 02 candidate vaccine, with just two doses, had demonstrated 62% efficacy – without a third booster dose of Soberana Plus, which should produce an superior response.

Abdala’s efficacy places it among vaccines with the best results in the world, which have all been produced in the principal laboratories of the most developed countries with financing of hundreds of millions and billions of dollars, something that for Cuba is impossible, even more so given the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade during the pandemic.

In presenting the findings, she highlighted the work of the teams of scientists who conducted Phase I/II and III clinical trials in Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, Guantanamo and Havana, and thanked the 48,000 volunteers who participated in the study.

The final analysis of Abdala’s efficacy in preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19, which was conducted by an independent group led by the Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics and Physics, showed not only a response to the initial strain of SARS-CoV-2 (DG614G), but also the Alpha, Beta and Gamma mutations, she explained.

Dr. Ayala recalled that the clinical trial included a placebo group and a vaccinated group, with three administrations over a period of 0-14-28 days. She noted that the studies continue, that new evaluations and conclusions will continue to be drawn.

She also highlighted the work of the Immunoassay Center, AICA Laboratories and other scientific centers, as well as t Public Health workers, who conducted a rapid, high quality vaccination process, difficult to achieve in other countries around the world.

The researchers, she added, are gratefully dedicating this accomplishment to Comandante en jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, founder of the CIGB, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Party First Secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and the center’s pioneer scientists.

After listening to the findings, the First Secretary commented, “One feels proud to be Cuban and to have compatriots like you.”

The results are really impressive, he reiterated and recalled the early days of the pandemic, when “I was convinced that poor countries were not going to have access to vaccines within a short period time, that the rich world was producing to prioritize the rich.

“This is why I asked our scientists (to assume the task), with the conviction, with the certainty that we could do it, that it was necessary to have Cuban vaccines to be sovereign in this situation, as well.”

We, he added, are among the few who, having the vaccines to resolve Cuba’s problems, are thinking about how, with these same vaccines, we can solve the problems of millions in the world, and above all of the millions who have less and live today in tremendous uncertainty caused by the disease.

“On behalf of Cuba, congratulations,” Díaz-Canel concluded, thanking the CIGB researchers who have worked on the creation of Abdala, meeting the highest standards as an anti-COVID-19 vaccine.

(Taken from Granma)

As anticipated, the process was initiated at the Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric Hospital in Havana, strictly adhering to protocols, with all the rigor and organization required, beginning the first day.

Dr. Meiby de la Caridad Rodríguez González, director of Clinical Research at the IFV, explained that the first volunteers were among those who responded to a call on June 11, when their parents expressed interest in having their children participate in the trial.

She noted, “We received more volunteers than were included in the study, who, after the rigorous process required for Phase I, 25 were selected, which was the sample size determined for the 12 to 18 age group.”

Once the parents and adolescents agreed to take part in the study, signing the informed consent and assent document, the clinical evaluation process began and they were summoned to the hospital Monday.

(Taken from Granma)

Prior to the injection, another physical evaluation and verification of vital parameters were again performed, to make a final decision about their inclusion and proceed to inoculation of the candidate vaccine.

Subsequently, as has been the case with the adult population, the young volunteers remained under observation for one hour, to address and record any possible adverse side effects of the immunogen.

In this regard, Dr. Rodriguez Gonzalez pointed out that, in the event of any serious reactions, all conditions are prepared at the clinical site within the hospital which has extensive experience in conducting trials in pediatric age groups.

After the hour of observation, specialized health personnel re-checked subjects’ vital signs, as well as the condition of the vaccination site, before discharging the volunteer and making follow-up appointments for the following day, as well as within 48 and 72 hours.

“We are optimistic that we are not going to see serious adverse side effects, the trial has been rigorously prepared, we chose this site, with all the conditions in place, so the research team, parents and everyone in general can be sure that the clinical trial will be carried out successfully,” Dr. Rodriguez insisted.