Cuba donated this Thursday to Western Sahara a batch of 558,000 doses of the Soberana-02 vaccine against covid-19, created and produced by the Finlay Institute.
The Saharawi ambassador in Havana, Mohamed Salec Abdesamad, thanked the “meritorious gesture” of the Cuban government upon receiving the donation and said that the antidotes will be applied to the pediatric population and to refugees in the camps located in North Africa.
He also highlighted the “internationalist work” carried out by the Cuban medical brigades in other countries during the most critical moments of the pandemic and the “feat” of the island’s scientists in developing five vaccine candidates.
The Saharawi diplomat said that this act “demonstrates the solidarity of the Cuban people who have historically been supporting the struggle of the Saharawi people to complete the liberation of their territory and achieve total sovereignty” and condemned the economic embargo applied by the United States Government against the Caribbean country.
More than 2,000 young Saharawis have graduated in Cuba and another 72 are currently studying in its educational centers, in addition to the collaboration of health personnel and teachers from the country in the “Saharan territories”
In the act of delivering the donation, the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Deborah Rivas, ratified Cuba’s permanent support for the cause of the Saharawi people to recover their territories and achieve peace.
He said that as part of this, more than 2,000 young Saharawis have graduated in Cuba and another 72 are currently studying in their educational centers, to which is added the collaboration of health personnel and teachers from the country in the “territories of the Sahara”.
The minister did not mention that, in reality, these professionals are in Algerian territory, where Cuba has its largest and oldest mission medical, for which Algiers pays 72 million dollars a year.
Cuba currently has three self-developed and produced vaccines authorized for emergency use: Abdala, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, whose vaccination schedule is three doses.
None of its vaccines have received recognition from the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, almost 90% of the 11.3 million inhabitants of the Island have received the complete guideline, always according to the Government, while more than 2 million people have received the fourth booster dose.
Until now, Cuba has sent its vaccines to Mexico, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, through agreements established with the state biopharmaceutical industry group BioCubaFarma.
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