Omicron Variant

Havana July 25 (RHC)-- An antigen against the Ómicron variant of SARS-COV-2, developed by the national biopharmaceutical industry, is ready to be formulated into a vaccine candidate, and initiate the corresponding preclinical and clinical trials, Granma newspaper reported.

Dr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, commented that the antigen has been produced at laboratory level, and soon there will be a vaccine candidate to be evaluated in preclinical and human trials against the Omicron variant.

The director also explained that among the variants derived from Ómicron is BA.5, which has caused a new outbreak of COVID-19 in the world, and a tendency to increase the number of cases in Cuba during the last few weeks.

The BA.2.75 subvariant, known as Centauro, has also appeared and is considered of concern by the World Health Organization.

According to Martinez Diaz, BA.2.75 shares 45 mutations with Omicron BA.5 and has 15 of its own, among which there are two of concern because they facilitate the entry of the virus into the cell.

This variant, reported in some 12 countries, may be five times more contagious than Omicron BA.1, which held that crown, although there is not yet much information on whether it increases the risk of severity.

On the effectiveness of anti-covid vaccines, the scientist argued that new variants increasingly escape induced immunity and even that obtained due to infection by the virus, but that current vaccines still have a high level of protection against severe disease and death, especially when there are high titers of antibodies.

This is why our country decided to reinforce with another booster dose, he added.

He also stressed that the immunity of around 6 thousand people has been studied, and the preliminary results show that there is a high level of immunity against the virus in the Cuban population.