Nicaragua to Buy 7 Million Doses of Cuban Vaccines

HAVANA, Oct. 6th  (HT)  Nicaragua expects to receive a total of seven million doses of the Cuban Covid vaccines Soberana 2, Soberana Plus and Abdala, Rosario Murillo announced on Tuesday, October 5.

According to Murillo, who is both vice president and government spokesperson, the first shipment of at least 1.2 million doses is expected to arrive by the third week of October.

Another two million doses of the Soberana 2, plus a million doses of Abdala, will arrive in November and the final vaccine shipments will arrive in December.

“At the end of December, the final 400,000 doses will be sent, making a total of 7 million doses expected between now and December,” asserted Murillo during her customary noon address.

Vaccines destined for children 2 to 17

The Cuban vaccines will be earmarked for the immunization of children and teens between 2 and 17 years old. Vaccinations for this age group are scheduled to begin on October 20.

Up until now, neither Murillo nor the Health Ministry have issued any explanation of the characteristics and the effectiveness of these serums. This has led to a lot of uncertainty among the population, principally among parents of children in this age group.

Currently, the Cuban vaccines have been used in Iran, Vietnam and Venezuela, in addition to Cuba itself. Only the latter, however, has been vaccinating children and teens with the Soberana vaccine.

The Center for State Control of Medications and Health Equipment and Implements, which regulates all health matters in Cuba, has only certified the Soberana vaccines for use in children, not the Abdala version.