The Republic of Cuba has sought the collaboration of Nigeria in the area of COVID-19 vaccines, saying the country has developed five vaccines which has already gotten approval in Cuba.
The ambassador of Cuba to Nigeria, Clara Pulido Escandell, made this known when she paid a courtesy visit to the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).
The envoy, who was received by the chamber’s president, Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, said her visit was to strengthen partnership with the chamber, even as she expressed her country’s readiness to support Nigeria and other African countries in the area of health facilities especially COVID vaccines and pharmaceuticals.
According to her, two vaccines out of the five developed by Cuban scientists have already been approved by the medical authorities of the country.
She listed the vaccines developed by Cuba as Sobrena 01, Sobrena 02, Mambisa, Sobrena Plus and Abdala among which three have been approved and have shown high level of efficacy, adding Soberena 02 had been proven with 91.2 per cent efficacy, Sobrena Plus 92.28 per cent and Abdala 100 percent efficacy.
Speaking further she said, among the country’s over 11 million population, almost 5 million persons had received their first jab, almost 4.5 million their second jab and over 3 million were fully covered.
Escadell also said they were developing medical trial with children between ages 3-18 and when this was fully approved, it would help secure the health of their children.
She expressed the embassy’s readiness to participate in the upcoming Halal Abuja International Trade Fair, pointing out that they had received some information and were looking forward to update that would help them participate fully.
The ambassador who said her aim was to partner the chamber and look into area where members could benefit also added she believed the embassy could be a good bridge for Cuba and Nigeria while calling for signing of MoU between Cuba Chamber of Commerce and ACCI.
In his response, Abubakar said the chamber was ready to partner Cuba in the area of tourism, pharmaceuticals and medicals, describing the development of the COVID vaccines as an eye opener.
“We are not too surprised that all these are coming from Cuba. We will like you to make your presentation with the medical trade group of the chamber so that we know where we can come in,” he said.
A statement by the chamber’s media/strategy officer, Olayemi John-Mensah, said Abubakar also enjoined the ambassador to get his people to participate in the Halal EXPO coming up between September 14 and 16, 2021.
