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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/05/cuba-accelerates-vaccine-drive/">counterpunch.org</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Cuba Accelerates Vaccine Drive</h1>
<span class="gmail-post_author_intro">by</span> <span class="gmail-post_author"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/helyal0912/" rel="nofollow">Helen Yaffe</a></span>- October 5, 2021<br></div>
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<div id="gmail-attachment_215895" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-215895" src="https://2vynjo3oi9ijs29xb3fmjtn1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6648755885_e3eda6b7fa_c-680x510.jpg" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="444" height="333"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-215895" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Photograph Source: Phillip Pessar – <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a></p></div>
<blockquote><p>“Cuba has developed different RBD-based public vaccines,
the most administered worldwide (protein-based), and among them the only
SARS-CoV-2 conjugate-vaccine (RBD-TT), designed especially for
children.”</p>
<p>– Tweet by Fabrizio Chiodo, Italian scientist working with Cuba’s Finlay Institute.<a name="_ftnref1">[1]</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Following clinical trials carried out over the summer, on 3 September
2021, Cuba’s national medical regulatory body (CEMED) authorised
emergency use of the Finlay Institute’s Soberana vaccines for children
from two to 18 years old.<a name="_ftnref2">[2]</a>Cuba
has now become the first country in the world to roll out Covid-19
vaccines for children as young as two, and is among the few countries
worldwide to be vaccinating under 12-year-olds. The clinical trials
showed: ‘After two doses of Soberana02, 99.3% of 3-11 year-old children
and 92.9% of 12-18 year-old children had an antibody response that was 4
times the pre-vaccination level’ – a superior response to that of
adults.<a name="_ftnref3">[3]</a></p>
<p>Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, whose Covid-19 vaccines are based on new
(mRNA) technology, all of Cuba’s five domestically produced vaccines are
based on technology that has been used with children for decades. Back
in 1988, Cuba’s Finlay Institute developed the world’s first Meningitis B
vaccine, after an epidemic which particularly affected children.
Soberana 2 increases immunogenicity and induces immunological memory.
Children are being given two doses of Soberana 2 and a third of Soberana
Plus at 28-day intervals. Cuban schools will not reopen until children
have been vaccinated. By mid-September, 460,000 Cuban children and
adolescents (20%) had received a first dose.</p>
<p><strong>Rapid vaccine roll out </strong></p>
<p>Soberana 2 and Soberana Plus are two of the five vaccine candidates
developed so far by Cuban medical scientists. Soberana Plus was designed
to protect Covid-19 convalescents (those already infected) from
reinfection. A paper in <em>The Lancet</em> medical journal concludes
that a ‘single dose of the [Soberana Plus] vaccine against SARS-CoV-2
was an efficient booster of pre-existing natural immunity, with
excellent safety profile.’<a name="_ftnref4">[4]</a></p>
<p>Cuban vaccine Abdala, produced by the Centre for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology (CIGB), is also being rolled out nationwide; it has an
efficacy of 92.28%. Soberana 1 and Mambisa are still passing through
clinical trials. Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) is delivering
150,000 to 200,000 doses daily. By 17 September, 39% of the population
(11.2 million) were fully vaccinated, with 3 doses, and 66% had received
at least one dose. Talks have started with the WHO about listing the
Cuban vaccines for emergency use worldwide. On 18 September, Vietnam
approved Abdala for its population.</p>
<p><img src="https://2vynjo3oi9ijs29xb3fmjtn1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/activecases.jpg" alt="" width="404" height="231"></p><p>Worldometer, Active Cases in Cuba.<a name="_ftnref5">[5]</a></p>
<p>The rapid vaccine roll out is essential to arrest the alarming surge
of Covid-19 cases in Cuba, initially since January 2021 but soaring as
the Beta variant took hold in spring, followed by the highly contagious
Delta variant into the summer. The roll out of Soberana 2 was delayed
due to difficulties obtaining raw materials for industrial production – a
direct result of US sanctions. The US blockade, which has been
tightened, has imposed multiple obstacles on Cuba’s response to the
pandemic. For example, in early 2020, the island could not purchase
medical ventilators for its ICU units nor spare parts for its existing
machines and in 2021 it has been unable to purchase syringes and other
medical equipment for the vaccination roll out. Millions of syringes
have been donated by solidarity activists around the world, including
millions from the United States.</p>
<p>This summer, Cuba’s infection rates have been among the highest in
the western hemisphere, although its Covid-19 fatality rate has remained
well below the world and regional averages. In mid-September it was
0.85% compared to 1.8% in Britain and 1.6% in the United States. With
the vaccine rollout delayed, cases surged out of control in Matanzas and
local health services were overwhelmed. The fatalities were
devastating; but they were exploited from outside by entities and
individuals financed with US Congress-approved dollars who are employed
in the social media war on Cuba. As reported previously in <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/whats-really-going-on-in-cuba/">Counterpunch</a>:
‘On 15 June, the hashtag #SOSCuba was launched by a US company, the
same day it was authorised to receive state funding. On 5 July, hashtags
appeared calling for a “humanitarian corridor” in Cuba’. The hashtag
#SOSMatanzas was promoted to urge an anxious population onto the streets
in protest and to call for foreign intervention in Cuba. These
machinations were behind the 11 July protests.</p>
<p>During August infection rates remained stubbornly high, generating
shortages of critical care beds in areas experiencing a surge. President
Díaz-Canel told officials that the pandemic ‘had exceeded the
capacities of the health system, placing stress on the work of all its
personnel, of all the organisations that are supporting the
confrontation with the pandemic’. To compound Cuba’s woes, the main
plant producing medical oxygen broke down. Cuba’s access to both the
foreign exchange and the spare parts necessary for maintenance is
obstructed by the US blockade. The Russian government donated a new
oxygen plant, and China shipped high performing lung ventilators and
oxygen concentrators. UNICEF also donated a medicinal oxygen plant to
Cuba. Mexico, Venezuela and other countries in Latin America also sent
assistance, including foodstuffs, essentials in short supply as a result
of US sanctions imposed to asphyxiate the Cuban people. The oxygen
plant was restored by 4 September.</p>
<p>Also in early September, MINSAP announced that two doses of China’s
Sinopharm vaccine would be given to the population of Cienfuegos, a
province with some of the highest infection rates nationwide, with a
third dose of Soberana Plus. By 21 September, total Covid-19 deaths in
Cuba were 6,978 and daily Covid cases and fatalities were finally
beginning to decline. This is vital for a country that prioritises human
welfare but is also obliged to reopen the economy to avoid more acute
shortages and greater suffering.</p>
<p><strong>Tourism to gradually reopen </strong></p>
<p>The aim is to have 90% of the population fully vaccinated by
December. From mid-November, the island will gradually re-open for
tourism, guided by epidemiological indicators in each province. Cuba’s
main tourists are from countries with high-vaccination rates: Canada,
France, Britain, Germany and Spain. Tourists will require a vaccination
certificate or, if unvaccinated, a negative PCR test result within 72
hours of arrival. While relaxing its stringent hygiene-health protocols,
Cuba will focus on symptomatic patients, temperature monitoring and
random testing. Visitors who test positive will be transferred to a
hotel-hospital tourist facility for isolation and medical care.</p>
<p>More than 75% of the purchases made for the tourism sectors are from
national industries, so this should boost domestic production. During
the pandemic, over half of Cuba’s 111,000 tourism workers remained
actively engaged, with many reassigned to work in hotels designated as
paediatric and maternity hospitals, and other centres.</p>
<p>2021 has been tough for Cuba, with the enduring impact of the Trump
administration sanctions, reinforced by Biden who imposed new sanctions
on 30 July, and the pandemic. The global public health crisis has
undermined the state’s capacity to circumvent the US blockade, which
almost the entire world opposes. However, by the end of the year the
island will be among the first countries in the world to fully vaccinate
its population, and that means the domestic scenario should improve.</p>
<p><strong>Cuban vaccines update</strong></p>
<p>By 1 October, 9,477,620 Cubans had received at least one dose of a
domestic vaccine and 5,424,640 were fully vaccinated, which represents
48.5% of the Cuban population. 1.6 million Cuban children and
adolescents had received their first dose of Cuba’s Soberana 2,
including 900,000 aged between 2 and 11 years old.</p>
<p><strong>Notes.</strong></p>
<p><a name="_ftn1">[1]</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FabrizioChiodo/status/1437428339132846080?s=20">https://twitter.com/FabrizioChiodo/status/1437428339132846080?s=20</a></p>
<p><a name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Sinopharm and Sinovac also have vaccines approved for this age.</p>
<p><a name="_ftn3">[3]</a> Resumen de los resultados de Ensayo Clínico SOBERANA-PEDIATRÍA, 6/9/21. <a href="https://www.finlay.edu.cu/blog/resumen-de-los-resultados-de-ensayo-clinico-soberana-pediatria/">https://www.finlay.edu.cu/blog/resumen-de-los-resultados-de-ensayo-clinico-soberana-pediatria/</a></p>
<p><a name="_ftn4">[4]</a> <em>The Lancet</em>, 15 September 2021.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(21)00075-2/fulltext">https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(21)00075-2/fulltext</a></p>
<p><a name="_ftn5">[5]</a> <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/">https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/</a></p>
<p><em>A version of this article first appeared in Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 284 October/November 2021.</em></p>
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