Meningococcal vaccine, another treatment in the fight against COVID-19 in Cuba
HAVANA, Cuba, June 8 (ACN) The application of one dose of meningococcal vaccine to at-risk populations will make it possible to assess its impact on the health of asymptomatic, symptomatic and serious patients suffering from COVID-19, and to modify the clinical course of the disease, Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported on Sunday.
Changing the clinical progress of the novel coronavirus and reducing the number of people who reach the severity or critical stage of the disease is the reason why, from a scientific point of view, alternatives for its treatment have been considered, while a vaccine candidate is developed in the country for a specific vaccine in the corresponding phases.
In this sense, a positive aspect of the confrontation with COVID-19 in Cuba has been the application of medicines previously developed and adapted for use in the current situation. Others are being studied, such as the anti-meningococcal vaccine VA-MENGOC-BC.
As stated last Thursday at the meeting of the group of scientists and experts directly involved in the battle against the disease, the vaccine has been applied to 18,528 people in Havana’s municipalities of Plaza de la Revolution and Centro Habana, and its results are being analyzed.
The aim is to strengthen innate immunity, which can be treated, Dr. Dagmar Garcia Rivera, director of research at the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, part of Cuba’s Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma), told the press.
The VA-MENGOC-BC vaccine was developed in Cuba in 1989. It is included in the National Immunization Program in the fight against Meningococcal disease (MD) B and C, caused by a bacterium. For three decades it has been used in children and young people, and more than 60 million doses have been applied in Cuba and other countries, with which its effectiveness has been proven.
Abel González Alayón
Chief-Editor Language Department
Cuban News Agency
