President Miguel Díaz-Canel congratulated this Thursday the group of scientists who created the first Cuban vaccine candidate against Covid-19, which was officially presented on Wednesday.

The vaccine, named Sovereign 01, was presented on Wednesday at a meeting of the head of state with the scientists and experts working directly on the Covid-19.

There, Soberana's development strategy was announced, and it already has the required permits to start the clinical trial phases, which will begin on August 24.

Vicente Verez Bencomo, general director of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines and project leader, said that the Cuban vaccine candidate presents low risks, few uncertainties and encouraging results in the pre-clinical phase.

He said the experimental batches induced high anti-RBD antibody titers in mice and rabbits.

He added that based on these indicators, on July 28 Sovereign was tested for the first time in humans, precisely in three of its researchers, who in an initial evaluation also showed a high immune response.

They are currently waiting for the result of the second dose of the vaccine candidate, the expert said.