HAVANA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Cuba expects to complete the necessary doses to immunize all its 11.2 million residents with vaccines against COVID-19 developed in the country, the official newspaper Granma announced on Monday.
The most advanced candidates, Soberana-02 and Abdala, will be used in the mass immunization, although Cuba has three others, Soberana-01 and Soberana Plus, as well as Mambisa, in different phases of clinical trials, Granma reported.
President of the state-owned company BioCubaFarma Eduardo Martinez explained that Soberana-02 and Abdala have their own production systems "so as not to compete" and "to be able to manufacture many vaccines in a short period of time," according to the newspaper.
"We are increasingly reaching industrial stability. We have manufactured batches of vaccines, which passed a rigorous evaluation process, to start the health intervention," Martinez added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health will start on Wednesday a mass vaccination campaign in seven of Havana's municipalities, which will continue in the second half of May in the western provinces of Pinar del Rio and Matanzas, as well as Santiago de Cuba and the Special Municipality of Isla de la Juventud. Enditem
