Cuba is today one of the few developing countries that immunized the majority of its population against Covid-19 with its own vaccines, and it is an example to follow, highlighted a US magazine.
According to an article in the Jacobin periodical, the island nation’s achievements are due to its public biotechnology sector and its government’s deep commitment to public health.
The successful vaccination program turned the pandemic in the country, which is an example of the way forward for the developing world and continues its fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, in front of the current corporate-driven vaccine apartheid, he stressed.
Cuba shows “more widely what is possible when medical science is disconnected from private profit,” said the journalistic material.
Data from Johns Hopkins University at the time of writing this article showed that Cuba vaccinated 78 percent of its population, which places it in ninth place in the world, above rich countries, while the United States, with slightly less than 60 percent of its immunized population ranks 56th, said author Branko Marcetic.
He emphasized that the change in trend since the vaccination campaign began last May has revitalized the country’s fortunes in the face of the double shock of the pandemic and the intensified US blockade.
After a peak of nearly 10,000 infections and nearly 100 deaths a day, both numbers plummeted, Marcetic added, noting that with 100 percent of the population on at least one dose of vaccine at the end of last month, the island reopened. its borders to tourism and also its schools on November 15.
“This makes Cuba an atypical case among low-income countries, which have only vaccinated 2.8 percent of their combined population, which is largely due to the hoarding of vaccines by the developed world and its jealousy protection of patent monopolies ”, he emphasized.
The columnist recalled that Cuba’s decision to develop its own vaccines, two of which – Abdala, named after a poem written by José Martí, National Hero; and Soberana 2- finally received official approval in July and August.
In addition, he highlighted how Cuban drugs are on the way to adding a “new commercial export at a time of continuous economic difficulties.”
In that sense, he indicated that efforts are underway with agreements with Vietnam, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran and Syria.
Since September, he argued, Cuba has been in the process of obtaining approval from the World Health Organization for its vaccines, which would open the door to their widespread adoption.
