[News] Cuba shows an alternative to Big Pharma hegemony through global solidarity

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/10/cuba-shows-an-alternative-to-big-pharma-hegemony-through-global-solidarity/>
Cuba
shows an alternative to Big Pharma hegemony through global solidarity
January 10, 2022
------------------------------

In yet another success story from Cuba, the country has fully vaccinated
more than 85% of its population, and another 7% have got their single dose.
This is more than most other developed countries, including the United
States. And this is despite the six decades-long trade embargo that the US
has imposed on the small developing country.

In Cuba, children below five years of age have also been vaccinated, while
the world over, Big Pharma companies are still developing vaccines for this
age group. The vaccination drive in Cuba includes children in the age group
of 2-18.

[image: data]
<https://www.newsclick.in/sites/default/files/styles/responsive_885/public/2022-01/covid366.png?itok=FnnN3Ksx>

Meanwhile, highly developed countries such as those in the European Union,
the United Kingdom and the US have only managed to fully vaccinate about
60-70% of their population.

Cuba has been able to vaccinate its people with the help of indigenous
vaccines. It has successfully developed five indigenous vaccines of which
Abdala, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus have been approved and are being
used. Two others – Soberana 01 and Mambisa – are still undergoing clinical
trials and are yet to be approved. An advantage of these vaccines
<https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/cuban-covid-vaccine-pandemic-biotech-research>
is that they are based on the traditional technology of the protein
sub-unit, making them easy to use. They can be kept in a fridge or even at
room temperature and be administered to children.
*Read |“The Cuban Soberana vaccine is not due to a miracle but the
consequence of political decisions”
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/20/the-cuban-soberana-vaccine-is-not-due-to-a-miracle-but-the-consequence-of-political-decisions/>*

Cuban scientists are also working on the first prototype of Soberana Plus
as an effective vaccine against the Omicron variant.
*Sharing vaccines as well as technology*

Not only has Cuba succeeded in vaccinating most of its population,
including children, it has also started sending these vaccines to other
countries that have approved them. Venezuela, Vietnam, Iran, Nicaragua, and
Argentina and Mexico are among the countries that have either approved the
Cuban vaccine or expressed interest in doing so. Recently, Mexico
<https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/rest-of-the-world-news/mexican-heath-authorities-approves-cubas-abdala-vaccine-for-emergency-use-articleshow.html>
approved
the use of Cuba’s Abdala vaccine.

This is despite the trade sanctions and the embargo imposed on Cuba by the
US since the 1960s. These sanctions made Cuba vulnerable in financial and
political terms where only a few allies and supporting countries get into
agreements with Cuba. Most recently
<https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/07/us-policy-cuba-blockade-embargo-protests-rubio-history-war-covid-food-medicine-shortages>,
during his presidential term, Trump signed more than two hundred directives
that attacked the Cuban economy. Since 1992, the United Nations General
Assembly has passed a resolution every year demanding the end of the US
economic embargo on Cuba. The US and Israel have consistently voted against
it.

As reported by Oxfam
<https://webassets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/bp-cuba-blockade-women-250521-en.pdf?_gl=1*1wt4xtb*_ga*MTk3OTAyMTE2MS4xNjQxNjIzNTkw*_ga_R58YETD6XK*MTY0MTYyMzU4Ny4xLjAuMTY0MTYyMzU4Ny42MA..>,
the sanctions imposed by the US have not only crippled the Cuban economy
and affected people but also impacted the raw materials for developing
vaccines and diagnostics.

Cuba has not just given these countries vaccines for immediate
administration but also provided them with technology to produce these
vaccines. The vaccines are produced by the Center for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology or CIGB (Abdala) and Finlay Institute (Soberana 02),
research institutes set up and run by the government. While Venezuela and
Vietnam have already started administering the Cuban vaccines, Syria
<https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/11/syria-explores-vaccine-cooperation-cuba>
has
also talked with Cuban officials to strengthen health-related cooperation.
In March, Cuba sent 100,000 doses of its Soberana 02 vaccine to Iran, and
both Iran and Nigeria
<https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/cuban-covid-vaccine-pandemic-biotech-research>
have
agreed to partner with the country to develop their home-grown vaccines.

[image: cuba]
<https://www.newsclick.in/sites/default/files/styles/responsive_885/public/2022-01/cuba2.png?itok=6MkPA_kC>

An end-to-end technology transfer means that the country getting this
technology can set up a domestic manufacturing plant and replicate the
production of the vaccine from start to finish. This helps build the
manufacturing capacity of the recipient as well.

This is in sharp contrast to the Big Pharma companies located in the
developed countries, which have refused to share technical know-how. Most
of the rich, developed countries have also opposed the TRIPS waiver
proposal, which calls for non-enforcement of patents on crucial drugs,
vaccines and medical products during times of the pandemic. Even after 15
months, the proposal is still under negotiations, with the countries in
Europe and the Big Pharma lobby stalling it.
*Supporting other countries – during pandemic and in other times*

The successful vaccination drive in Cuba rides on a well-developed
bio-pharmaceutical industry that is state-owned. It ably caters to the
domestic needs for medicines and medical products, keeping these affordable
for and reaching all sections of the population. This supports the robust
public health system that Cuba has built over the years for the people.

Cuba has also emerged as an essential exporter of bio-pharmaceutical
products worldwide and its doctors have provided vital assistance to a
number of countries.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, while countries focused on merely
their own needs, Cuba sent teams of doctors to other countries. Teams of
doctors were sent to the Italian regions of Lombardy and Piedmont in the
early days of the pandemic in 2020. In March 2020, teams were also sent to
Andorra, a small country between France and Spain, which was grappling with
a collapsing health system. Building on Cuba’s long tradition of medical
internationalism and solidarity with Africa, teams of medical professionals
were deployed in a number of countries such as Togo, South Africa, Cape
Verde, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea
Conakry, Guinea Bissau and Kenya.

The efforts of Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade were widely
hailed and there were calls across the world for them to be conferred the
Nobel Peace Prize.

A classic example of this solidarity was from March 2020 when a relatively
small town in Italy, Crema in the Lombardy region, was facing a healthcare
crisis amid a surge of cases and overwhelmed health facilities. According
to a detailed report
<https://publicpolicyprojects.com/newsdit-article/983e78ab9c022670401656e797ad1856/how-cuban-doctors-helped-a-small-city-in-italy-tackle-covid-19/>,
Mayor Stefania Bonaldi had alerted national and international authorities
asking for help. Soon 52 Cuban healthcare professionals arrived in Crema.

Bonaldi narrated that “their sense of humanity left us overwhelmed,” and
they showed “a particular sensibility and attention that characterizes
their way of looking at the world.” Crema witnessed a system of care that
is organized door-to-door, where “the relationship between doctors and
their patients is much closer.” The report explains how the Italian
healthcare system is controlled on a regional basis, with every region
reasonably independent in the decision-making process. Lombardy, which saw
the privatization of healthcare for the past decade, now has fewer public
hospitals.

And this is not the first time that Cuba has come to the forefront in
responding to health and humanitarian crises across the world. Be it the
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/doctor-diplomacy-cuba-seeks-to-make-its-mark-in-europe-amid-covid-19-crisis>
earthquakes
in Indonesia and Pakistan, a cholera outbreak in Haiti, or the Ebola
epidemic in West Africa, Cuba has been there to help the people and the
governments. Cuban medical workers have served in different countries,
including Guatemala, Ethiopia, East Timor, Ghana, Brazil and Tanzania.

The Cuban model clearly shows the importance of building a strong public
health system and developing the public sector bio-pharmaceutical industry
and research institutes. The Cuban model provides an alternative framework
– putting people before profits. In contrast, despite global calls by WHO
and others, Big Pharma, supported by governments in rich countries, has
prioritized patent monopolies and profiteering. As explained by the mayor
of Crema after the experience of working with Cubans during the pandemic,
“I believe that this should push us to think about the fact that healthcare
should be public, at least for the most part.”
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