Since Wednesday, the population allergic to thimerosal in the capital of Las Tunas province receives the first dose of the Chinese anti-COVID-19 Sinopharm vaccine.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- According to Nilvia Agüero Batista, the coordinator of the Committee of Experts that controls the process, more than 2,400 people over 19 years will benefit. The expert clarified that the lots for allergic patients under 18 years of age are not yet here.

The scheme consists of two doses of the immunogen prepared by the Institute of Biological Products of Beijing (China), plus one dose of the Cuban “Soberana Plus,” with a period of 21 days between each of them. For this, 200 bulbs, of two doses, were distributed in the provincial capital, according to Idania Galano Milhet, the director of the Wholesale Marketing and Distribution of Medicines base business unit (EMCOMED Las Tunas).

Agüero Batista added that 35 vaccination centers scattered throughout the health areas were enabled with the necessary conditions for the normal development of this long-awaited procedure. The product, which is administered by intramuscular injection, should be kept at a temperature between two and eight degrees Celsius, and should not be stored frozen or exposed to light.

At the end of August, Cuba received a donation of the Sinopharm inactivated virus vaccine, which began to be applied in the population of the province of Cienfuegos. It is considered safe, "with clinical efficacy of 79 percent, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used in more than 85 countries in the current epidemic," said Dr. Dagmar García, Director of Research of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV).