Vaccination with Abdala in Mexico is progressing slowly amid doubts about its efficacy

In the middle of the sixth wave of infections by covid-19 and a few days before Christmas begins, the Ministry of Health of Mexico City started on December 21 the application of booster vaccines for people over 18 years of age with the drug Abdala , produced in Cuba

Unlike other vaccination campaigns, the latter has started with little influx of citizens in hospitals in the capital.

Partly because of the dates, partly because of the doubts that the Cuban vaccine has sown, people were coming these days by droppers to administer the reinforcement.

On November 25, four million doses arrived in Mexico, of which 400,000 will be applied in all vaccination centers in the capital.

This was announced by the Undersecretary of Health: "We have already received more than four million doses of the Cuban Abdala vaccine, a highly effective vaccine that we will be using in different reinforcement schemes for the adult population," declared Hugo López Gatell.

Specialists consulted by this newspaper have some doubts about the efficacy of the Cuban vaccine and its immunization capacity against the variants that are circulating at this time.

"It is not the right vaccine to be used as a booster because it is directed at the original strain, there are no studies for such use and this will not protect us against omicron variants," says Verónica Athié, PhD in Immunology and member of the initiative. 'Let's vaccinate with evidence'.

It is Friday, December 23 in the morning, and ten people are lining up in front of the door of the Doctor José María Rodríguez Hospital, in the Asturias neighborhood, on one side of Calzada de Tlalpan.

Wenceslao Hernández waits to receive his dose.

It is the fifth time that he has been vaccinated after having received the Astra Zeneca vaccine on four other occasions.

"There's no need to be afraid because if we don't put it on it's going to be worse for us and we're going to die of suffocation," says the 60-year-old man.

A city government worker points out that in two hours (between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.) around 40 people have come to be vaccinated at that hospital.

A woman registers to receive the Abdala vaccine against covid-19, at a health center in Mexico City.

NAYELI CRUZ

Mr. Hernández's enthusiasm is not shared by everyone.

Sandra Barba, 36, received Abdala's booster dose at a hospital south of the capital.

“Actually, I was very undecided, because there is not enough information or the same evidence that exists for other vaccines.

I don't know if she serves as reinforcement.

I only did it because I got my last vaccine on October 21, 2021, that is, I had more than a year without a booster or anything.

This is the only thing in Mexico, it's not like we have options.

I thought it was better to have something than nothing.

But I am not satisfied or calm, ”she replies.

After three years of pandemic and hundreds of thousands of deaths, Mexican society has taken more precautions to take care of its health.

Using face masks on the street and in closed spaces was joined by awareness about the importance of vaccination to reduce deaths from the virus.

According to the Ministry of Health, 84% of people over the age of five are vaccinated in the country, a coverage that increases to 91% when only adults are considered.

María Esther and Raúl, a 78-year-old married couple, line up at the Doctor Atanasio Garza Hospital in the Doctores neighborhood.

Along with them, another 12 people are waiting to be vaccinated.

“We put it on for safety.

Due to our age we must be aware of everything that comes out to take care of ourselves ”, they explain to this newspaper.

Although the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) issued an authorization for the emergency use of the Cuban vaccine last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not endorsed the prototype.

"If the WHO has not endorsed it, it is because all the required technical requirements that give confidence to consider that this vaccine will be safe and effective have not been met," says Verónica Athié.

The approval of the international body is scheduled, according to the Cuban authorities, for 2023 and they support that the drug has an efficacy of 92.2% against the disease.

Among other doubts, Athié points out the absence of studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Abdala as a reinforcement for the new variants of the virus.

“When a vaccine is developed, a small piece of one of the microorganism's proteins is chosen as a target.

For the Abdala vaccine, they chose the RBD domain of the SARS-CoV2 spike protein.

This domain is exactly the one that has changed the most with the mutations of the virus, ”he adds.

A family requests information about the Abdala vaccine at a health center in the Cuahtémoc Mayor's Office, in Mexico City.

NAYELI CRUZ

Although the authorities had initially said that children and adolescents would be vaccinated, they decided to go back on this decision.

The Federal Government Technical Guide for the application of the Abdala vaccine against the most recent version of covid-19 indicates that at the moment "there is not enough information to vaccinate girls and boys under 18 years of age."

For the majority of the population, this is the third booster dose for people over 18 years of age and health workers who received their last immunization more than four months ago, an effort that tries to slow down a curve of new cases that has accumulated seven weeks. consecutive rise.

Despite this, some clinics and hospitals had more people lining up this Friday to get tested for covid than to get vaccinated.

As in the Doctor Ángel Brioso Vasconcelos Hospital, in the Condesa neighborhood.

Abdala has not been exempt from criticism and prejudices due to her origin that have crossed over to the political level.

On social networks, the cascade of comments has followed one another since the vaccination campaign was announced.

Like Mexico, the drug has also been acquired by Vietnam, Iran, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

On dates when respiratory diseases increase due to the drop in temperatures, specialists insist that citizens must increase prevention, wear a mask in closed places, wash their hands and ventilate spaces to improve air quality.

Wenceslao Hernández agrees: "I always use my face mask because on these dates it is very easy to get sick, even if you get vaccinated," he replies.

Some of the hospitals consulted for this report affirm that they will continue giving the vaccine beyond December 24, the date on which the vaccination campaign supposedly ended.

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