Cuba is developing an antigen against the omicron variant of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19which is ready for formulation as a vaccine candidate, according to the island’s official press on Monday (25).
The antigen produced in a laboratory by the Cuban biopharmaceutical industry is ready to start the process of pre-clinical and clinical tests in humans, said the president of the state-owned group BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez, quoted by the Granma newspaper.
On the effectiveness of anti-covid vaccines, the scientist highlighted that the new variants of the coronavirus increasingly escape induced immunity and even that obtained by infection with the virus.
However, he considered that the three Cuban vaccines against Covid-19 still have a high level of protection against severe symptoms and deaths. The manager highlighted that, among the subvariants derived from the omicron, there is BA.5, which has caused a new outbreak of the disease in the world, and a trend of increasing positive cases in Cuba in recent weeks.
