In a report published on the site Scidev.net, a city-based specialized in bringing science to development through news and analysis, the authors highlight how this strategy of vaccination with safe and effective immunogens could face situations of this type in environments with resource-poor, low-income countries, and in the developing world.

At the same time, they demand the reduction of the barriers that block global access to biotechnological innovations from that country.

Last June, the team of US researchers, together with colleagues from Africa and the Caribbean, made an official visit to Cuba, the first high-level visit in five years, to exchange with colleagues from the island on the production of vaccines against covid-19 from the country.

The delegation was led by co-chair Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Along with the scientist came Cristina Rabadán-Diehl, PharmD, PhD, MPH, who for 25 years led international work at the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services, before becoming Director Westat Clinical Trials Associate.

For Osterholm, what he learned about Cuba’s extraordinary work with the covid-19 vaccine made it clear that it can be an important actor in increasing global access to life-saving advances.

He considered that although the policies are complex, “they must face the barriers that prevent their impressive group of scientists and public health experts from doing it.”

The report further explains that the purpose of the fact-finding mission was threefold: first, to learn how and why a small country of some 11 million people, and facing considerable economic hardship, had developed, manufactured, and deployed its own vaccines, It was shown to be more than 95% effective in preventing disease, severity, and death.

Second, understand the launch of the vaccine in Cuba, strategy and preliminary results and third, explore Cuba’s approach to science in the context of public health.

The vaccine development effort and the immunization model could reveal opportunities to reduce global inequalities in access to vaccines and other health innovations, the scientists insist in their study.

They also highlight that the delegation was aware of predictions that the world is dangerously close to the next pandemic, with cross-zoonotic infections, which already account for 75% of emerging infectious diseases, on the rise amid climate change.

They were also alarmed by the unequal access to vaccines that has prolonged the pandemic so far, and how it highlights a broader failure in the current surge in biomedical innovation to reach billions of people in low- and low-middle-income countries.

The visit to Havana was organized by Medicc (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba), a US-based non-profit organization that promotes health-related dialogue and collaboration.

Since 1997, Medicc has facilitated exchanges between Cuban and US health professionals, academics, policymakers, foundations, students, and leaders of medically underserved communities.

(With information from PL)

Along this path, this Tuesday afternoon two exchanges were held between the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with experts and scientists for health issues, and the members of the Temporary Group of I work for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and dengue.

At the center of the analyzes of both meetings was the evaluation of the behavior of the dengue and COVID-19 epidemics in the country, two aspects that do not allow carelessness in their confrontation.

Dengue in October: Maintain surveillance and vector control
October —assert the specialists— is confirmed in Cuba as a month in which the infestation rates of the Aedes aegypti mosquito tend to increase and, therefore, also the incidence of dengue among the Cuban population.

Such reflections were shared this Tuesday during President Díaz-Canel’s meeting with experts and scientists for health issues, in which Dr. Francisco Durán García, director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, drew attention to the effects of Hurricane Ian in the epidemiological situation of the country and the importance of maintaining and intensifying vector control actions.

To the extent that the sanitation work progresses —he reflected— we will be in better conditions to contain the increase in the infestation, which is ultimately what is leading us to still have somewhat high incidence rates of suspected cases.

In support of his assessments, he commented on the experience of health intervention that is currently being carried out in the province of Mayabeque, specifically in the municipality of Batabanó, in the community of Surgidero, where the effects associated with Hurricane Ian made the epidemiological situation.

Even though there the cases with febrile syndrome that are being seen in the demand for care have not decreased, it is indisputable that the rates of infestation are improving discreetly, he considered.

Precisely in the municipality of Batabanó, dengue transmission was opened during the last week, the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Health, Tania Margarita Cruz Hernández, would explain shortly after, at the Temporary Working Group meeting for the prevention and control of COVID-19. 19 and dengue. The epidemiological control and surveillance actions implemented there have been essential to avoid a much more complex scenario.

Reporting on the behavior of the disease in the country over the course of the last week, Cruz Hernández specified that dengue transmission is maintained in the 15 provinces, as well as in 44 municipalities and 62 health areas. As a favorable element, she highlighted that the incidence rate of suspected cases decreased by 32.7% compared to the same preceding period.

The provinces with rates of suspected cases above the national average are Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Camagüey, Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara and Mayabeque.

In this sense, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party insisted on the priority with which work must be done throughout the country in the identification of foci in order to act against the proliferation of the mosquito.

Without trusting ourselves before covid-19
September has been the best month of this year in terms of the incidence of COVID-19 in Cuba, assured Dr. Raúl Guinovart Díaz, dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing of the University of Havana, when sharing together to experts and scientists for health issues, the usual forecasts on the behavior of the epidemic.

The forecasts, he assessed, are quite favorable for all the provinces, and it is expected that the trend towards control will continue throughout the national territory.

The figures shared shortly after, at the meeting of the Temporary Working Group for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and dengue, by the First Vice Minister of Public Health, although they do not constitute any reason to neglect the epidemiological surveillance actions associated with the disease, show the favorable situation that is manifested throughout the country.

Let us take some examples as a basis for this certainty: at the end of the last week, ending on October 1, the diagnosis of positive cases decreased by 53.1% compared to the same previous period; there were eight weeks in which a decrease in infections was confirmed; Meanwhile, for six consecutive weeks, the death of no Cuban as a result of COVID-19 has been regretted.

Given this favorable scenario, an evident example of how much work has been done in Cuba to contain the epidemic and minimize its damage to the population, the President of the Republic insisted that we cannot trust each other, and we must continue to monitor and observe the behavior of the disease. in order to maintain the control that has been achieved over it.

Intertwine strategies to advance health goals
Precisely about the many and diverse actions that are promoted and implemented by the Ministry of Public Health to comply with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and their articulation with the 2030 National Economic and Social Development Plan in the post-COVID-19 context, he detailed also during the working day Ileana Morales Suárez, director of Science and Technological Innovation of the Ministry of Public Health.

The COVID-19 epidemic, she assured, has not been a reason to neglect these lines of work, which are of vital importance to guarantee a better quality of life for our population. When the world set goal 3, which is to “guarantee a healthy life and promote the well-being of all”, multiple strategies had already been outlined in our country to achieve it, recalled Morales Suárez.

In an inclusive manner, she detailed, we have managed to align the Sustainable Development Goals with the National Plan for Economic and Social Development and that has led us to a more comprehensive strategy for compliance.

As an unquestionable strength to advance in these purposes, he highlighted, among others, all the Health structures that exist throughout the country, such as the clinics; the Family Physician Program; the universities of Medical Sciences; almost half a million health workers; cooperation links with other organizations, and a healthcare and scientific network.

Cuba, like the rest of the countries in the world, faces great health challenges. More than six decades of Revolution have paved the way so that facing them is not a matter of one day or carrying out campaigns, but rather a supreme purpose on the road to protecting the health of its people.

(By: Yaima Puig Meneses)

Following verification of the candidate’s safety in a group of adolescents aged 12 to 18, clinical trials of Soberana-Pediatria continue with the inclusion of a second group of volunteers in the three to 11 age group, Yury Valdes Balbin, assistant director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, reported.

The results of the security investigation revealed no adverse side effects, thus allowing for younger children to be included and the group of volunteers expanded to 150.

Specialists at the Finlay Institute explained that this is an open study with no placebos administered, and also adaptive, meaning that modifications can be made, if elements appear that indicate a change in the study’s design.

The trials will be conducted at several sites, with the first phase at Juan Manuel Marquez Pediatric Hospital and the second at the primary care level, involving several community polyclinics.

The study of the Cuban anti-COVID candidate vaccine will eventually include 350 children and adolescents, 50 in Phase I and 300 in Phase II, conducted in an overlapping and gradual process of three doses, in strict compliance with protocol and best practices.

(Taken from Granma)

According to information presented in a meeting of the Provincial Defense Council, every facility of this type now has on hand the resources needed to provide the test, and depending on the result, can discard the presence of SARS-COV-2 as the possible cause of illness in such cases.

According to established protocols, patients whose antigen test is negative are referred to hospitals specialized in treating non-COVID related respiratory illnesses, while those testing positive are transferred to isolation centers for suspected cases, where they will be given a PCR test, to definitively confirm whether or not they have been infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus.

According to an ACN report, Defense Council authorities insisted on the need to provide sufficient capacity in facilities of this nature to deal with the increase in suspected cases, although an effort is being made to reduce the number of patients referred to these centers by some 50%.

Tatiana Viera Hernández, Havana’s government program coordinator, stated that nine sites are ready to receive unconfirmed suspected cases of COVID-19, with a total capacity of 2,036 beds, with 566 occupied at the time.

The hotel chain Islazul has again prepared several of its facilities to be used for this purpose, including the Lido, Terrazas, Bella Habana and San Alejandro Hotels.

The Havana Defense Council also mandated that healthcare professionals in direct contact with COVID-19 patients return to working as they did in previous severe stages of the epidemic, with two continuous weeks on duty, remaining isolated when off-duty, followed by a period of quarantine.

(Taken from Granma)

Cuba’s national public health system is waging a hard battle against the new coronavirus, sparing no effort and overcoming physical and intellectual fatigue.

The Party and government’s strong political will has made this possible, along with the impressive work of our scientists who have again reiterated that Cuba will be among the first countries in the world to vaccinate its entire population in 2021, despite the tightening of the U.S. blockade of the island over the past 12 months, stated Dr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of the BioCubaFarma state pharmaceutical enterprise group, on his Twitter account.

The general director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, Dr. Vicente Vérez Bencomo, has reported that the country is preparing capacity to produce 100 million doses of the injectable Soberana 02 vaccine against COVID-19.

Regarding this announcement, Dr. María Eugenia Toledo Romaní, epidemiologist at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), condemned the escalating sanctions imposed by the United States which have a negative impact on the effort to expand capacity toward this end, stating, “If we are obliged to purchase new machinery and erect more plants, this is extremely difficult given the limitations we face in acquiring the technologies.”

This is why BioCubaFarma is taking advantage of its international experience to sign agreements with other countries that can help with the needed resources and allow the project to advance.

Dr. Toledo additionally explained, “To conduct a Phase 3 clinical study of efficacy, in which we show that vaccinated subjects are less likely to become ill than those who were not vaccinated, we must measure this aspect and then make comparisons to find the necessary statistical evidence to finally determine that the candidate vaccine is no less effective than others on the world market.

SPARING NO EFFORT

Currently underway on the island is a Phase 2b expanded clinical trial

of the candidate vaccine Soberana 02 in persons between 19 and 80 years of age, in the Havana municipalities of La Lisa and Plaza de la Revolución.

Dr. Mayra García Carmenate, research coordinator at the 19 de Abril neighborhood polyclinic, explained that the site was selected for the trials because the facility has met the standard prerequisite of systematically adhering to “best practices,” and has participated in several months of training to prepare staff members involved and subjects who will receive either the vaccine or a placebo.

After administration of the vaccine, participants will remain under observation for one hour to evaluate any adverse side effects and will be actively monitored via out-patient follow up visits for a period of 28 days. If any reaction should occur, the subject is to immediately return to the clinic where a 24-hour medical post will be maintained to evaluate the situation and, if necessary, transfer the subject to the appropriate public health facility.

Dr. García noted that the community’s population is very enthusiastic and many have made their way to the clinic to volunteer. They have confidence in Cuba’s public health system and those selected are proud of their participation and the fact that their neighborhood was chosen for this type of clinical trial, she said, adding “None of those chosen during the recruitment have declined to sign the informed consent agreement.”

Volunteers and technical personnel alike are confident that Cuban science will defeat COVID-19 with intelligence and dedication.

(Taken from Granma)

‘The clinical development program of Soberana 01 (vaccine candidate against Covid-19) includes the assessment in convalescents, a population that has not been in the target of vaccines,’ highlighted on Twitter the director of Research of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, Dagmar Garcia.

Covid-19 cases who had been reinfected by the novel coronavirus have been reported worldwide, even with much more acute and severe forms of the disease; therefore, the country also seeks to protect this risk group.

The trial, to stimulate protective levels of neutralizing antibodies against possible reinfection, began on January 9 with the participation of 30 volunteers, aged 19 to 59 years, who were in contact with the novel coronavirus and currently have a negative PCR.

Those subjects received on January 16 a single dose of one of the Soberana 01 vaccine candidate formulations, and since then, they have been followed up in consultations and through direct contact with the researchers.

Dr. Rolando Felipe Ochoa, specialist in Immunology of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, explained that the formulation used for this clinical trial is simpler and safer, according to the characteristics of the population group studied.

Experts take into account those people have already been vaccinated in a natural way (by having caught the virus) for administrating an adequate dose of the the vaccine candidate.

Thus, the dose would be a reinforcement of the immunity of the individual, said Dr. Arturo Chang, specialist in General Integral Medicine of the Institute of Hematology and Immunology, the center where the trial is being developed.

Chang advanced that if positive results are achieved in this phase, they will probably move on to a clinical trial with a larger number of subjects to assess the immunogenicity, efficacy and effectiveness of the product.

Cuba has four vaccine candidates against Covid-19: Sovereigns 01 and 02, from the Finlay Vaccine Institute; as well as Mambisa and Abdala, from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

He reiterated that the objective is to satisfy the needs of the country and also those of other nations interested in acquiring the vaccine, which thus far include Vietnam, Iran, Venezuela, Pakistan and India. In the case of our country, he clarified, administration will be free of cost, with the intention of immunizing the entire population this year.

“Cuba’s strategy to market the vaccine has a combined goal of serving humanity and impacting global health. We are not a multinational, with the financial objective as the number one motivation. Our aim is to create more health,” said Vérez Bencomo, Prensa Latina reported.

The Soberana 02 vaccine began extended Phase II clinical trials this week, increasing participation to 900 volunteers between 19 and 80 years of age, while in February a new investigation with the pediatric population will be conducted.

Dr. Vérez explained that after the results of this stage are analyzed, a third phase will follow. During this period, health authorities plan to include 150,000 at persons in vulnerable groups and residents of high-risk areas.

(Taken from Granma)

By Luis A Montero Cabrera

We Cubans have a very remarkable platform for biomedical production, one might even say extraordinary for a country like ours. An infamous 2004 document from the “Commission for the Support of a Free Cuba” of a previous administration in the US described it as unnecessary and very expensive for such a poor country as ours:

“Large sums were also directed to activities such as the development of biotechnology and bioscience centers not appropriate in magnitude and expense for such a fundamentally poor nation, and which have failed to be justified financially”. The only thing to be added to this is that those of us in the South with darker skin ought not to have the luxury of science. But our biopharmaceutical sector is the child of necessity, of the creative initiative of a lover of knowledge and a true revolutionary, as was our Fidel, and of an educational policy that gives everybody without distinction the right to reach the highest level of human knowledge and to with that knowledge, create. It was not begun with a specific strategy or goal but became, as it is today a bastion of the knowledge, science and culture of our country. It was and is the fruit of revolutionary thinking.

The development of a vaccine today requires the existence of today’s conditions for this kind of research. It must begin by looking at the scientific literature for antecedents and ways of doing things that can lead to the implementation of more and more exquisite laboratory procedures and rigorous tests. In our case and for the above reasons, a firm base for the research was already established when the COVID 19 emergency arose. Events such as these cannot be foreseen, but the preparation of the conditions to face them is the duty of any decent political system.

Chinese science immediately made available to the international community everything it knew about this dangerous and ultra-contagious virus and in other countries as well the information that was being generated was made available to all. Under these conditions, several of our scientific groups set to work to obtain a specific Cuban vaccine for this disease. One of the efforts, at the Finlay Vaccine Institute, is led by the same Prof. Vicente Vérez who obtained the previous milestone of the vaccine against “Haemophilus influenzae”, the first with synthetic antigens that was used and commercialized in the world. The other groups involved work at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology with a long tradition also in the design and production of novel vaccines.

Remember that the essential component of a vaccine is the antigen that activates the immune system and leaves it ready to fight and destroy the foreign invader. Additional determining factors are both the adjuvants and the pharmaceutical forms for delivering the vaccine to humans. If you have an established and strong foundation in these last two aspects, determining the most suitable antigen becomes the heart of the creative work.

The antigen chosen in Cuba, for many reasons, was the “receptor-binding domain” of the virus (RBD). In simple terms, these are the molecules that constitute the external “spikes” so striking that they appear in the pictorial representation and the high-resolution microscopy of the viral molecular aggregate. This CoV “spike” protein (S) plays the most important role in viral binding, fusion and entry into cells of the organism attacked by the virus.

Therefore, it serves as a target for the immune system to develop antibodies, and for scientists to use them as antigens in the design of effective vaccines. An article that appeared in one of the branches of the well-known journal Nature had characterized this component as very promising as a vaccine antigen against COVID 19 as early as March 2020. The authors of the article are a very good reflection of the current internationalization of the basic sciences. Most are Chinese in origin and did extensive work in collaboration between the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute in New York, the Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, and the Key Laboratory for Medical Molecular Virology at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Our compañeros evaluated alternatives. One of them was to generate the so-called messenger RNA that was capable of producing the antigen in human cells. It is an ultra-modern technology that is being used in some of the COVID 19 vaccines that are already being applied. It has some advantages, but also has an important disadvantage so far not overcome for a vaccine that is intended to be administered massively throughout the world, especially the less developed one: it requires very strict cooling conditions for its transport and preservation.

Our biotechnology system, on the other hand, has at the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) the possibility to “ferment” mammalian cells that directly produce the RBD antigen, since the technology has been developed for other similar productions. It also has the possibility of producing a significant quantity if the antigen is viable for our vaccine. Therefore, all Cuban vaccine candidates, at least up to now, are based on this antigen, with some modification that makes it more active.

The results are exhilarating. And thus our scientists began the race to produce a variety of vaccines, in different institutions and by different scientific groups, collaborating and competing, in order to arrive at the best solutions. “SOBERANAS” 1 and 2, the MAMBISA and the ABDALA are very promising.

Vaccines are drugs. Therefore, they require measurements of their effectiveness, knowing their contraindications and risks, and finding the appropriate formulations and the most viable forms of administration before applying them en masse. Everything must proceed in a strict regulatory framework to ensure that consequences more serious than the disease itself were avoided. If they have the same antigen, how are our vaccine variants different? What state are they in their research and development?

(* Luis Alberto Cabrera Montero holds a Doctorate Chemical Sciences.   He is Senior Researcher and Full Professor at the University of Havana. He is President of the Scientific Advisory Council of the University of Havana and is a Merit Member and Coordinator of Natural and Exact Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.  For a full biography, see http://www.academiaciencias.cu/en/node/674)

For the purpose of evaluating reactions, safety and immunogenicity of the candidate, created by the Finlay Vaccine Institute, volunteers will receive two doses of the drug, administered intramuscularly, and results will be compared to those from a placebo control group.

First steps for participating volunteers included signing an informed consent document and evaluation by medical staff. The principal researcher leading this stage, Dr. María Eugenia Toledo, from the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, explained that Soberana 02 is a conjugated vaccine, in which the virus antigen is chemically linked to the tetanus toxoid, and that after the results of this phase are evaluated, the vaccine will undergo a third phase to determine its clinical efficacy.

Since August, the Center for the State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices has also authorized clinical trials of the anti-COVID-19 candidate vaccine Soberana 01, with which Cuba became the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to develop a drug of this kind. At the beginning of November, Soberana 02 was authorized, as well as Mambisa (CIGB 669) and Abdala (CIGB 66), which are also being tested.

The polyclinic in Plaza de la Revolución was selected because the municipality is considered at high risk for transmission of the virus, and has participated in previous studies of interventions including administration of the VA-Mengoc-BC vaccine, to stimulate the residents’ immune response.

(Taken from Granma)

The molecules of an invading biological entity that are identified and are accessible to the human immune system are often referred to as “antigens”. They are usually expressed in the outermost parts of the nanoscopic carrier and are a necessary part of its composition. They are the same when found in a virus, in a fungus, in a bacterium, or in the cells of an organ from another being transplanted into our body.

An important characteristic of the infection and self-healing process is that when an individual overcomes a disease by the action of the immune system, it usually remains prepared to defeat it in future reinfections of the same type. The system “remembers” the intruder antigen and thus we are prepared to reject its carriers again. It is a biological fabric very refined by natural selection through many generations and species.

By realizing this, and using scientific reasoning, human beings try to use this defense “memory” to ensure that people do not get sick with an infection, even if they have never suffered from the disease. It is about “teaching” the immune system of each individual to activate and destroy any morbid invasion once its antigens are detected. The challenge is great, because to invade the body with antigens from a certain infection without making the person sick requires wise processing.

The result is known as a “vaccine.” Its name is due to the fact that the first formulations were cultivated in cows. It is always a chemical-biological preparation of antigens to achieve active acquired immunity against a particular infectious disease. The first vaccines contained the organisms that caused the disease from weakened or dead forms of themselves. It was not known then that what the immune system recognized was only its antigens. These preparations thus “taught” the human body to “shoot” the actions that would destroy the invader. Vaccines can be prophylactic when they prevent and prevent the effects of future infection, as it is desired that COVID-19 be, or therapeutic when they are used to fight a disease that has already invaded the body, such as cancer.

Most likely, the first disease to be prevented by inoculation was smallpox. It seems that the first recorded use of it occurred in the 16th century in China. The scientific and reproducible vaccine against smallpox was invented and duly reported in the specialized literature in 1796 by the English physician Edward Jenner. Smallpox was a contagious and deadly disease, and it is said to kill up to 60% of infected adults and 80% of children.

Tomas Romay y Chacón was a physician and scientist born in Havana in 1764. Having begun by studying law he switched to medicine and in 1791 at the age of 27 was 33rd medical graduate in Cuba. He became a professor at our University of Havana and co-founder of the Royal Patriotic Society of Havana, today the Economic Society of Friends of the Country. As early as 1804, just 8 years after the appearance of the vaccine in Europe, Romay implemented smallpox vaccination on our island with preparations made “in situ” with the support of the Patriotic Society. In this way, he used the local science instead of waiting for delayed arrival of the vaccine from the Metropolis. He and his collaborators followed the procedures published and described by Jenner and manufactured the first Cuban vaccine, the smallpox vaccine. A marvelous success of a nascent, Creole, nation’s innovation and wisdom.

Time passed and scientific research led to the knowledge that the key to vaccines were the antigens and not the entire infectious entities.

Vaccines have been produced in Cuba for many decades. Two of them at least have been both original and exclusive. In 1987 Drs. Concepción Campa and Gustavo Sierra led a scientific group at the Finlay Vaccine Institute to obtain a vaccine that at that time was the first of its kind in the world. This vaccine was and still is very effective against a bacterium that attacks the meninges in the brain and nervous system, called group B and C meningococcus. This type of meningitis is particularly deadly in children. Cuban science at the University of Havana produced in 2004 the world’s first efficient commercial vaccine based on an antigen manufactured in the laboratory, that is, “synthetic”. Prof. Vicente Vérez, a scientist who has dedicated his life to the chemistry of sugars, his wife Dr. Violeta Fernández (who died very young) and their collaborators were the authors of this second great feat. Thanks to the work of these scientific groups, many Cuban children and children in many parts of the world are alive and active today as adults.

Vaccines don’t just contain antigens. The immune system is not equally effective in all people and at all ages. Certain antigens are more activating than others because they are more easily recognized and “trigger” the work of the entire system that feels invaded. Vaccines are made more effective with so-called “adjuvants” (helpers) which, when given together with the appropriate antigens, cause many people’s immune systems to wake up more quickly and efficiently.

New types of vaccines have recently appeared that do not contain antigens directly but rather RNA that allows our cells to synthesize them “in situ”, recognize them and learn to fight them. While the vaccines that contain only antigens without the need to supply the infectious agent are efficient and safe, these others are as well and furthermore allow for mutations of the virus to be taken into account with much greater facility and so ensure the utility of the vaccines over time.

It can be said that vaccines are pieces of biological technology that represent a lifeline for many human beings. Without them we would be at the mercy of Darwinian natural selection and an epidemic would be survived only by the few who could overcome it thanks to some singularity of their organism. This was the case before science intervened by inventing vaccines. The cost was immense in precious lives ending early. It could also be said that without vaccines some type of infection could come along that might lead to the extinction of homo sapiens as a living species, which has happened many times before with other species in the beautiful and harsh history of life on this planet.

And what will the current vaccines against COVID and very particularly the SOBERANAS, MAMBISA and ABDALA be like? How do you prove that they serve what they have been designed for?

(* Luis Alberto Cabrera Montero holds a Doctorate Chemical Sciences. He is a Senior Researcher and Full Professor at the University of Havana. He is President of the Scientific Advisory Council of the University of Havana and is a Merit Member and Coordinator of Natural and Exact Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. For a full biography, see http://www.academiaciencias.cu/en/node/674)