Venezuela receives first shipment of Cuban coronavirus vaccine

By Jorge Jraissati

CARACAS, Venezuela (AA) - Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said Thursday that Venezuela received an unspecified number of the first shipment of the new Cuban coronavirus, Abdala.

"I have the honor to share the arrival of these doses of the Abdala vaccine, which, just a few days ago, was presented to humanity with an efficacy and efficiency of more than 92 percent," Rodríguez said in a televised address.

That information comes from the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, which presented a study that found the effectiveness of the vaccine.

That was reiterated by Cuba’s Health Ministry and the island’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Cuba’s Ambassador in Venezuela, Dagoberto Rodríguez said, “We continue in the fight for the health of our people and a deep political will to do more every day to strengthen these ties between Venezuela and Cuba.”

Rodriguez said that the shipment would be the first of 12 million doses.

Venezuela is the first country to receive the Abdala vaccine.

Other Latin American countries, including Argentina and Mexico, have expressed an interest in the vaccine.

If the success of the Abdala vaccine is proven, Cuba would be the first country in the region to develop and manufacture a vaccine for the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to comment about the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Venezuela has 265,000 confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic.

A total of 16,000 cases are still active.

Venezuela also reached 3,000 deaths from the virus this week.