The experience of others, a good ally in the fight against COVID-19

Marcial Cardona Rodríguez is over half a century old, and Marcela, his mother, is 80. Marcial spoke to ACN outside a primary school here in the city of Guantánamo, where nowadays none of the classrooms receive senior citizens. Therefore, that is now why they are in the premises.

The son carries in a sling one of his mom’s arms while he presses a tiny cotton swab on the forearm of the other: "The nurse and the doctor suggested that I should keep it there for a few minutes to play it safe," he says.

At this point of the story you probably guessed that they did not come to this school to get an education but to take care of their health. However, there may be doubts among those who see them head to a classroom, perhaps to attend a lesson for people of old age.

Making such a mistake would entail ignoring the unusual comings and goings of people, on this dog day afternoon, in the school that is home to one of the 89 clinical sites established with rigorous meticulousness by the Cuban health system for the large-scale administration of the vaccine Abdala to people who are almost 20 years old and under 80.

Consequently, mother and son go to the room where those already inoculated wait for the required 30 minutes in case they show any adverse reaction.

Marcial leads his sacred companion to the classroom, free of the children's bustle ever since COVID-19 reemerged with force around these parts.

Since the immunogen, one of several created by Cuban scientists, stands as a barrier against SARS-Cov-2, its effectiveness will all the more decisive insofar as people, vaccinated or not, remain aware of the risk and comply with the health protocols.

The interviewee agrees that it is more feasible to be cautious, realizing that many of those who fail to take the warnings seriously and refuse to wear masks become infected and even die in some cases or are left with sequelae, probably for life.

His reflections bring to mind a phrase frequently quoted and authored by Benjamin Franklin, the statesman and scientist who participated in the war against Great Britain for the independence of the 12 colonies more than two centuries ago.

One of the so-called fathers of American independence, Franklin often said that "experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other".

His longevity (January 1706 - April 17, 1790) testifies to his accumulated knowledge about other people’s experience, a subject which he passed with flying colors, since he had the time and serenity to invent the lightning rod.

We cannot all learn electricity, but we can learn from other people’s mistakes rather than rely solely on our own experience which, according to the English playwright Oscar Wilde, "is the name we give our mistakes".