Canada-Cuba
Friendship
Successful Fundraising for Cuba's Efforts to Combat COVID-19
Members of the Henry
Reeve Brigade prepare to leave Cuba for South
Africa, April 25, 2020,
as part of their contribution to the fight against
COVID-19.
The Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC) informed this
week on its
successful Campaign to Support Cuba's Contribution
to the World's Fight
Against COVID-19. The CNC reports that it sent
$53,512 to Cuba.
"This is a significant contribution at a time of
uncertainties
in the national and international spheres. It
demonstrates your trust
in and commitment to Cuba's vision of public
health and its
international efforts to cope with COVID-19,"
Keith Ellis, Coordinator
of the Campaign, writes in a letter reporting on
the Campaign. The
letter says:
 "Cuba and two
other countries, Russia and China, are making it
clear that
economically deprived sectors of humanity will be
included among those
users of their vaccines against COVID-19. Cuba
collaborates with these
two countries in the production, packaging and
distribution of vaccines
against COVID-19, and that would probably ensure
Cuba's supply from
these sources. Nevertheless, the Cubans are
working to produce their
own safe and efficient vaccine for humanity and
for themselves, as well
they should, supported in part by their historical
research record.
"When the editors of Encyclopedia
Britannica tell you that Walter Reed was
a 'U.S. Army
pathologist and bacteriologist who led the
experiments that proved that
yellow fever is transmitted by the bite of a
mosquito' don't believe
them, despite President Trump's recent high praise
of the hospital
named after Walter Reed. The fact is that Carlos
Finlay, a Cuban
scientist, was the first to identify the Aedes
aegypti mosquito as the
vector of yellow fever, a disease that took a
heavy toll among the
patriotic Cubans who fought in their war of
independence from Spain.
Many American soldiers who intervened in the war
when it was about to
be won by these patriots also died from yellow
fever.
"The
properly named Carlos Finlay Institute became the
vaccine research
centre where a team of Cuban scientists, led by
Concepción
Campa, a true heroine of science, invented the
meningococcal B vaccine
that in the 1980s quelled a raging tide of
meningitis that was on a
course to destroying a catastrophic number of
young Cuban and other
lives. Some in North America came to prefer a
vaccine from Norway, a
fellow NATO member, to this safe and effective
Cuban one, but their
choice was soon withdrawn in the face of a torrent
of lawsuits brought
against the Norwegian makers for personal injury.
"The
outstanding work of Cuba's 'Henry Reeve
International Medical Brigade
Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious
Epidemics' since the
outbreak of COVID-19 in the world is motivating
many individuals and
organizations to initiate and support campaigns to
nominate the Henry
Reeve International Medical Brigade for the Nobel
Peace Prize. We
strongly support the drive to give this important
recognition to a
group of perennial standard bearers for José
Martí's vision of melded science and tenderness.
"The
anti-COVID-19 fund remains open and we will
gratefully continue to send
collected funds to Cuba, but please reserve
something for a rainy,
windy day [to help with the damages caused by
hurricanes. --
TML Ed. Note].
"Thank you very much for
your solidarity and generosity."
To contribute to
the fundraising campaign, Support Cuba's
Contribution to World Fight
Against COVID-19: cheques should be made out to
the "CNC," with
"COVID-19" written in the memo, and mailed to:
c/o
Sharon Skup
56 Riverwood Terrace
Bolton ON L7E 1S4
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 39 - October
17, 2020
Article Link:
Canada-Cuba
Friendship: Successful Fundraising for Cuba's Efforts to Combat COVID-19
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
