April 18 (NNN) — The Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Integration of Bolivia, Benjamín Blanco, made official the Government’s intention to buy the anti-COVID-19 Soberana 02 vaccine candidate from Cuba.
Blanco, accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Health Insurance, Alejandra Hidalgo, met with the Chargé d’Affaires of the Cuban embassy, Danilo Sánchez, to finalize actions aimed at acquiring the drug in phase III of clinical studies, Bolivia reported.
“We are in constant conversations, and we are going to have a high-level meeting to know a little more closely what is happening. They have already started the vaccination, and I hope that in May, they will have a significant number of people immunized, which will make it possible to contribute to the studies,” Blanco said.
They would be ready in June or July, and once they are prepared for export, we could make the acquisition depending on the results of this last period, Blanco remarked.
In his statements, he also said that the State would support the acquisition of vaccines made in Latin America and even more from a brother country such as Cuba.
So far, Bolivia has approached pharmaceutical companies that have drugs against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. He said that they are close to an agreement with China for the provision in May of Sinovac. They are also working with India to acquire Covaxin.
Bolivia’s vaccination strategy, initiated in early February, is progressing favorably, and 507,411 people were injected up to Thursday, between the first and second doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, according to official statistics.
The Andean nation received a couple of days ago another 25,000 doses from Russia, while the objective is to immunize 100% of the vaccine-eligible population (7.7 of the 11.5 million inhabitants) by September.
