Made in
Cuba
Soberana -- Cuba's COVID-19 Vaccine
- Gerardo Szalkowicz -
If not for the unwritten
premise of the imperialist media that anything
good about Cuba is not
to be reported, it would be striking that this
piece of news has gone
practically unnoticed: that in recent days the
vaccine "Soberana 01" ["Sovereign"
in English -- TML Ed. Note] began clinical
trials in humans
and became the first in Latin America -- and in
the entire so-called
underdeveloped world -- to advance to this second
phase.
So
far there are 167 potential vaccines registered
for COVID-19. The Cuban
one joined 29 others that the WHO has already
approved for clinical
studies, six of which are in phase 3 that involves
large-scale human
testing. In Latin America there are another dozen
national vaccines in
development but, except for the Cuban one, all are
in the preclinical
phase.
The candidate vaccine that the island is
producing is advancing steadily. Since clinical
trials began on August
24, "it has reported zero serious adverse events
after the injection of
the first 20 volunteers," tweeted Dagmar García
Rivera,
director of research at the Finlay Institute, the
Cuban state
scientific centre that is directing the project.
The sample will
include 676 people between the ages of 19 and 80
with the results
expected on February 1. In the event there is a
happy ending, Cuba will
have its own vaccine available to the population
in the first quarter
of 2021.
Things are moving at a steady and
accelerated pace. "What normally takes years has
been achieved in just
under three months," says Finlay's Director
Vicente Vérez
Bencomo. In the phase of pharmaceutical
development and preclinical
studies in animals it presented low risks, few
uncertainties and
encouraging results." Based on these initial
indicators, on July 28 the
vaccine was tested on three of its researchers,
who also presented a
high immune response.
That Cuba is marching, once
again, at the forefront in the scientific-health
field is the result of
long accumulated experience in preventive
medicine, mass immunization
and the development of a biotechnology industry of
undeniable
international prestige. Since the triumph of the
Revolution in 1959,
professional training was promoted by the
universities and a Scientific
Hub was created with the aim of combining research
with production.
The development of vaccines is one of its most
significant
achievements: Cuba produces eight of the 11
vaccines used in its
national immunization program, which has over 98
per cent coverage and,
of course, is free and universal. The first
vaccination campaign was
carried out in 1962, resulting in Cuba becoming
the first country to
eradicate polio. Another of its milestones was to
achieve, in 1990, its
own vaccine against Hepatitis-B which led to the
practical
disappearance of the disease. A noteworthy fact is
that the Cuban
medical research platform, consisting of 32 state
companies with more
than 10,000 workers dedicated to the production of
medicines and
vaccines, is made up of mostly women.
Sovereignty,
the Byword
Achieving a 100 per cent national
vaccine in a country with great economic
limitations -- mainly due to
the United States blockade -- is of vital
importance. President Miguel
Díaz-Canel highlighted the concept that
distinguishes
"Soberana 01" and for which it is named:
"The name
of the vaccine reflects the feeling of patriotism
and the revolutionary
and humanist commitment with which the work
embodied in it was carried
out. Exploits like these reaffirm our pride in
being Cubans."
The policy of producing and applying vaccines is
only one leg
of a comprehensive health system that is an
example for the world. In
1959 Cuba had just 6,000 doctors and today it has
more than 100,000,
the highest number per inhabitant in Latin America
and one of the
highest globally. It is also the only country in
the region that has
eliminated severe child malnutrition: none of the
146 million
underweight children living in the world today are
Cuban.
The
emphasis on preventive medicine has also been key
to controlling the
coronavirus. After almost six months of a
pandemic, Cuba registers just
over 4,000 infections and 100 deaths -- one of the
lowest mortality
rates in the world, with eight deaths per million
inhabitants (the
highest is Peru with 871).
The island's health
education has as its universal bastion the Latin
American School of
Medicine (ELAM), which has graduated 7,248 doctors
from 45 countries in
20 years, including about 200 from the United
States.
That
internationalist solidarity is perhaps the main
hallmark of the Cuban
model. The medical brigades, which have been
deployed around the world
for six decades, have put heart and soul into all
the natural disasters
and epidemics (from the 1960 earthquake in Chile
to Ebola in Africa).
Before the pandemic, there were about 30 thousand
health workers
providing services in 61 countries. They were
joined by 46 brigades
that left this year to collaborate in the fight
against COVID-19. So
the proposal that has been gaining momentum, to
award the Nobel Peace
Prize to the "army of white coats" -- as Fidel
Castro called them --
does not sound off-base at all.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 34 - September 12, 2020
Article Link:
Made in
Cuba: Soberana -- Cuba's COVID-19 Vaccine - Gerardo Szalkowicz
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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