Cuba Defeats Covid-19 with Learning, Science, and Unity

[Judi Lynn]

DECEMBER 16, 2021

BY W. T. WHITNEY

Education is central to Cuba’s brand of socialism. The revolutionary government’s dedication to scientific knowledge and healthcare for all shows up now as Cubans cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. The United States is not so lucky.

Cubans have wholeheartedly carried out masking, social-distancing, testing and quarantining. Cuba’ s bio-medical research and production facilities created five anti-Covid vaccines. As of December 3, 90.1 percent of Cubans had received their first dose; 82.3 percent of them were fully vaccinated. Only seven other countries have higher rates. (1) Trials showed that Cuba’s workhorse Abdala and Soberana 02 vaccines were protective for over 90 percent of vaccine recipients.

Cuba’s Covid vaccines don’t need extremely low-temperature refrigeration as is the case for major U.S. vaccines. In that regard they are particularly useful in poorly resourced countries. Cuba has sent, or is preparing to send, vaccines to Vietnam, Venezuela, Iran, and Nicaragua. Cuban scientists are elaborating a version of their Soberana Plus vaccine that will protect against the Omicron variant.

Cuba’s achievement in producing anti-Covid-19 vaccines is remarkable in the face of shortages of equipment, reagents, and supplies due to the U.S. economic blockade.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/16/cuba-defeats-covid-19-with-learning-science-and-unity/

[Bayard]

1. Yay, Cuba!

The population getting on board means everything--82% fully vaxed!

[niyad]

2. Not surprised at all. They prepare for emergencies, amoung other things.

I remember reading years ago about their hurricane evacuation plans. We have, to this day, NOTHING even remotely close.

[James48]

3. It's time to end the embargo.

And begin massive trade and exchanges with Cuba.

We can use their medical schools and training, and they can use our cash and our exchange travel. They can teach generations of health care workers, and we can better both sides.

Come on people, it’s time to change.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. I visited one of Cuba's medical research hospitals while in

Havana in 2018. They were working on a vaccination for cancer.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Cuba soars to near top of COVID vaccination charts on decades-old bet

December 20, 2021
7:11 PM CST
Last Updated 21 hours ago
Americas

By Dave Sherwood and Anett Rios
4 minute read

HAVANA, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Cuba has vaccinated more of its citizens against COVID-19 than most of the world's largest and richest nations, a milestone that will make the poor, communist-run country a test case as the highly contagious Omicron variant begins to circle the globe.

The Caribbean island has vaccinated over 90% of its population with at least one dose, and 83% of the population is now fully inoculated, placing it second globally behind only the United Arab Emirates among countries of at least 1 million people, according to official statistics compiled by 'Our World in Data.'

What is Cuba's secret? While many of its neighbors in Latin America, as well as emerging economies globally, have competed for vaccines produced by wealthier nations, health officials say Cuba vaulted ahead by developing its own.

Infections and deaths from COVID-19 have plunged on the island in recent weeks, falling to less than 1% of their peak on Aug. 22, when fewer than half its citizens were vaccinated.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-soars-near-top-covid-vaccination-charts-decades-old-bet-2021-12-20/

[Judi Lynn]

6. Cuba has vaccinated more than 90 percent of its population, surpassing the US, other wealthier natio

"It is a truly remarkable accomplishment, given the size of Cuba, and also the U.S. embargo, that restricts their ability to import.”

By
Shirin Ali | Dec. 21, 2021

. . .

William Moss, director of the Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center, told Reuters that "it is a truly remarkable accomplishment, given the size of Cuba, and also the U.S. embargo, that restricts their ability to import.”

A study published in the BMJ found that Cuba’s Abdala COVID-19 vaccine is 92 percent efficacious after three doses. The island has three other vaccine candidates in the pipeline, too, one of which is the Soberana 2, which Cuba’s health agency says has a 91 percent effective rate when combined with a booster vaccine called Soberana Plus.

However, Cuba began rolling out two of its most promising vaccine candidates despite neither having been approved by the country’s regulatory body for emergency use.

The BMJ study also found that Cuba established an aggressive testing, tracing and isolating program, with doctors, nurses and medical students going door to door advising the public on COVID-19 symptoms and searching for potential infections. Cuba has more physicians per head than anywhere else in the world and even dispatched 2,000 of them abroad to help stabilize hospitals in countries like Italy.

More:
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/medical-advances/586801-cuba-has-vaccinated-more-than-90-percent-of-its

Also posted in Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016309024