At the meeting of experts and scientists for health issues headed by the President of the Republic, on Tuesday the results obtained from two studies carried out on pregnant women were presented.

Protecting pregnant women and their babies has been a priority in Cuba since COVID-19 began to spread around the world. And although unfortunately in 2021, during the worst moments of the pandemic peak faced by our country, 93 of them died, once vaccination began in this risk group, it was possible to bring that indicator to zero and achieve greater protection of the lives of pregnant women and the unborn.

This is confirmed by the historical figures of the epidemic in Cuba, and also confirmed by the safety and immunogenicity evaluation that was carried out in 940 obstetric patients who received the three doses of the Abdala vaccine, as part of an investigation carried out in five Havana maternity hospitals.

These results —which were presented on Tuesday afternoon during the meeting of experts and scientists for health issues headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez— showed that 92.6% of the pregnant women studied were not infected with COVID-19; of the 6% who did, only 0.4% had moderate disease and the rest mild.

When presenting the study, Dr. Jorge Aguilar Estrada, head of the Teaching Department of the Gynecology and Obstetric Hospital "Ramón González Coro", explained that in none of the cases there were serious adverse events related to vaccination.

According to the results obtained, he assured that the levels of antibodies detected in maternal serum, umbilical cord and colostrum were high, with high levels of inhibition of the virus, which confers protection against SARS-CoV-2, both to the mother and her baby. "

For her part, Dr. Idania Baladrón Castrillo, vice president of the Cuban Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, emphasized that the study carried out in this case was observational, it is not a clinical study. It is a study, he said, that has been done in real-life conditions, during the Health intervention to pregnant women.

"The vaccination has been not only safe, but also of great benefit to our patients," he said. Being an observational and non-clinical study, he said, the greatest scientific evidence is in its contribution to detect signals that could be considered negative and in turn to make certain recommendations to continue advancing in the process.

It was verified, he said, that in any trimester that the woman is vaccinated there will be benefit, both for her and for the unborn, being the most propitious moment around the 22nd week of pregnancy.

At the conclusion of this presentation, President Díaz-Canel asked the scientists if these results would now change the vaccination protocols for pregnant women, before which they assured that "from them it was possible to adjust the protocols on the fly."

"There are already a significant number of pregnant women with booster doses, which will result in fewer positive cases in mothers and children under two who are not vaccinated," said the First Deputy Minister of Public Health, Tania Margarita Cruz Hernández.

These results, in addition, added Ileana Morales Suárez, director of Science and Innovation and Technology of the Ministry of Public Health, support the decision "not to vaccinate children under two years of age, as it shows that both by breast milk and by everything that the mother manages to transmit to the baby, it acquires a level of immunity ".

Jusvinza and its benefits for obstetric patients

Photo: Estudio Revolución.

Taking into account precisely that pregnant women are a group of special risk, due to the changes that occur in their body during that period, there were several alternatives used for their protection during the course of the epidemic in Cuba. About the results of the application of the peptide CIGB-258, named Jusvinza, in obstetric patients with severe or critical manifestations when sick with COVID-19, was also commented on this Tuesday afternoon.

More than seven thousand pregnant women were infected in the country between 2020 and 2021, the vast majority of them in that last year, in which 631 were reported serious or critical and unfortunately 93 died.

As explained during the meeting by the specialist in Gynecology Dr. Anadys Segura Fernández, head of Teaching and Postgraduate of the Central Military Hospital "Dr. Luis Díaz Soto" – this was the reference center in the country to care for serious and critical pregnant women infected with the virus – among the multiple actions carried out then to protect them, there was the introduction in the protocols of innovative products of BioCubaFarma, as is the case of Jusvinza, which has an anti-inflammatory action, and had already demonstrated safety and effectiveness in adult patients with COVID-19.

Those results, he confirmed, allowed the authorization for the use of this drug in obstetric patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

"In none of the patients who had moderate or severe disease and were treated with Jusvinza had disease progression to more severe forms," he said.

That, he reflected, is one of the main results obtained with the use of this drug, to which are added a "clinical and radiological improvement, as well as the reduction of inflammation biomarkers, compared to patients not treated with this drug."

In no case, he stressed, were any adverse effects attributable to the use of the drug identified.

Among the perspectives for the use of this drug, he explained that its use has been planned in severe and critical patients with hyperinflammation without SARS-CoV-2 infection; recurrent abortions; preeclampsia-eclampsia syndrome; endometriosis; and pregnant women with antiphospholipid syndrome.

These two issues that we have seen today, said the President of the Republic, continue to show that "the use of Cuban medicines, now in more specific treatments in pregnant women, give results that are also impressive."

Hence the insistence of the Head of State to continue working on these issues and validating the results that are obtained, so that "the entire branch in which these medicines can work with benefits" can be appreciated.

Our products continue to give good results, also our vaccines, the president said, and that "is good for us and it is good for the world."