The President of the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industry Bussiness Group, Eduardo Martínez.

Havana, February 4 (RHC=-- Cuba should reach one million doses of Soberanas vaccines against Covid-19 in April, for which production has already begun to be scaled up, informed the director of the Finlay Institute, Vicente Vérez.

Speaking on the radio and television program Mesa Redonda on Thursday, the expert explained that 100,000 doses are currently being manufactured to safely support the Soberana 01 and Soberana 02 candidates' clinical trials.

Mr. Vérez pointed out that Soberana 02 should start its phase III clinical trial on March 1 with 42,600 volunteers for whom the necessary administrations are guaranteed.

In this regard, the president of the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industry Bussiness Group, Eduardo Martínez, emphasized that the country has the capacity for these processes, and in the future more will be created to simultaneously guarantee the production of the four vaccines (Soberana 01, 02, Mambisa and Abdala).

Cuba is currently working on creating capacities to produce 100 million doses of Soberana 02 to meet the country's needs and that of other nations interested in the injectable.

By the end of February, the clinical trial with both products (Soberana 01 and 02) will also begin in the pediatric population, including patients between five and 18 years of age.

Commenting on why Cuba opted for four vaccine candidates to counteract the current pandemic, Eduardo Martinez said that this decision is due to the fact that the country could not have only one option, because if it were not effective, it would set back the scientific processes.

Also, because of the different variants of this coronavirus, having different vaccines will allow targeting them to different groups of people', he stressed.