The governments of Nicaragua, Cuba and Russia reported Wednesday that they have developed, for the first time in the history of the Central American country, vaccines against influenza, with which it hopes to fight the flu, both in the country and in Latin America.
"Today we started to produce the commercial series of anti-influenza preparations," said Russian Deputy Health Minister Sergei Kraevoi, through government media.
The first mass production of influenza vaccines consisted of 300,000 doses, that is, the total daily capacity of the Mechnikov Latin American Biotechnology Institute, which Russia built in Nicaragua three years ago.
"Initially we think of a utopia, a dream, without a real hope of reality in the time we have achieved it (...) and that dream that seemed impossible at that time, today is a reality," said the general director of the State Center for the Control of Medicines of Cuba (Cecmed), Rafael Pérez.
According to the Nicaraguan authorities, the production of vaccines at the Latin American Institute of Biotechnology Méchnikov, established north of Managua, is endorsed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The Latin American Institute of Biotechnology Méchnikov was inaugurated in October 2016 as a vaccine plant valued at 21 million dollars.
The center is named after Elie Méchnikov, a Russian microbiologist recognized as one of the proponents of immunology.
Authorities of the Ministry of Health (MINSA) of Nicaragua reported in 2018 at least 15 million vaccines against influenza will be produced in a first stage in that laboratory, according to the state information.
The Government of Nicaragua aims to produce vaccines that fight against dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
Russia cooperates with Nicaragua on issues of security, defense, transport, disasters, among others.