Cuban Pregnant Women, Nursing Mothers Get Abdala Vaccine

On Thursday, Cuban health authorities started the COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant women, nursing mothers, and patients with transplanted organs. These social groups will receive the domestically-produced Abdala coronavirus vaccine, which proved to have an efficacy rate of 92,28 percent in clinical trials.

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To speed up the vaccination process, family doctors will encourage groups at epidemiological risk to attend medical centers previously selected for their care. After an initial evaluation, patients will be vaccinated and then clinically observed for one hour.

Expectant mothers of less than 19 years old will not yet be immunized, and adult pregnant women who are first pregnancy trimester will have to wait until reaching six months of gestation to be vaccinated.

Although Cuba had reported no case of mother-to-child coronavirus transmission during pregnancy, over 2.200 expectant mothers have so far tested positive to COVID-19, and 22 of them have died from the disease.

“This is an alert that the family should not ignore. Vaccination is an essential step, but the key remains in prevention and compliance with the established hygienic-sanitary measures”, the Maternal and Child Care Program (PAMI) Chief Noemi Causa assured.

She also stressed the importance of adhering to the complete immunization schedule. The Abdala vaccine is administered in three doses 14 days apart. 

Currently, Cuba is going through its third COVID-19 wave, which is being caused mainly by the Delta strain. So far this week, this Caribbean country has reported over 8,000 cases on average per day.