Application of Abdala vaccine as a reinforcement option in Mexico fails

The application ofCuban Abdala vaccine as a booster option failed in Mexico, where only one percent of the population chose to receive the dose.

In the Mexican capital, where the Cuban drug was offered as the only option,Not even 2,500 doses were administered per daybetween December 21, 2022 and January 24, 2023, according to the newspaperLatin.

In April of last year, when the first booster doses of other vaccines were applied, 82% of the population over 18 years of age (almost 6 million people) went to health centers to receive it, but now, with the variant cuban,only 84,515 have requested it, which represents 1.1% of the city's adults.

According to the press outlet,distrust in the vaccine developed by Cuba The reason is that it is not endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its effectiveness would only be proven against the original virus and not against dangerous variants such as omicron.

“The Abdala vaccine is safe, but its effectiveness drops because the virus has mutated. "Really, in the current context, it is not promoting a clear benefit to the population that receives this vaccine," said the doctor.Alfredo Torres, vaccinologist and professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, United States.

Although the government ofAndrés Manuel López Obrador, a Cuban ally, has insisted on applying Abdala to its citizens, and acquired more than nine million doses, many experts recommend using bivalent vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna that offer protection against new mutations, so the application of the Cuban one would not work, as explainedXavier Tello, analyst and advisor in Health policies.

The vaccine had also been approved for first applications in people without prior vaccination against coronavirus, but the Mexican government approved its emergency use as a booster because, according to the note, "they wanted to save money."

“If the Ministry of Health is really interested in introducing this vaccine, a study would have to be done to see how people who are vaccinated with other vaccines respond and if the immune response they generate really protects. It would be very important to do this study because then it would validate that a vaccine was purchased that will work with the population as it is currently vaccinated,” Torres commented.

Thelots of Abdala They were purchased by Mexico last November and December, after several announcements by López Obrador about the acquisition.

In September, the Mexican government announced the signing of an agreement with Cuba for the purchase of nine million doses of Abdala,that would be used in children between 5 and 11 years old.