As of this coming Monday 25th of October, 2021, Nicaraguan children from the ages of 2 to 17 years will be able to join the vaccination program and receive the Cuban Covid-19 vaccines; Abdala and Soberana 02.
As well, those over 18 will be able to receive the Russian Sputnik Light.
MINSA, the Ministry of Health, stated that they will also be able to offer a Covid 19 vaccination to any pregnant women who wish to have it.
The first batch of 1,2 million doses of the Cuban vaccines, Abdala and Soberana 02 were delivered to the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport this Wednesday and received by Dr. Martha Reyes, Minister of Health as well as the Ambassador of Cuba in Nicaragua; Juan Carlos Hernández.
There will be two further Abdala and Soberana deliveries this year, one in November and one in December to complete the 7 million doses that will be acquired by Nicaragua.
The Minister of Health noted that this phase of the vaccination program (Nicaraguan children 2 to 17) was not expected at this stage in the process and is in addition to the original goal of 70% vaccination of those aged 18 and over.
Earlier this month, Nicaragua approved the emergency use of the Cuban vaccines against the coronavirus.
Abdala, developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and is based on a “recombinant protein” platform which they have the most experience with. It’s also the same process used by the US vaccine Novavax and the Sanofi vaccine from France. It is administered by injection, 3 doses two weeks apart.
The Cuban authorities claim an efficacy of 92.2% against Covid-19 and a 100% efficacy in preventing severe symptoms or death.
The second vaccine; Soberana 02 is a “subunit conjugate vaccine” developed by the Cuban run “Finlay Vaccine Institute” who claim an effectiveness of 91.2 percent “when combining two own doses and a booster dose of Soberana Plus”. Cuba has immunized over half of its population with this combination.
