CARICOM Praises Cuban COVID-19 Vaccines

Havana, March 31 (ACN) The development by Cuba of its own COVID -19 vaccines and the international interest raised about them made headlines today on the FrontPage of CARICOM News, the website of the Caribbean Community.

“There has been interest in these vaccines within the Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In Jamaica, there have been calls for the Government to explore the possibilities with Cuba and it was reported recently that Suriname wants to take a Cuban vaccine,” the publication reads.

The article also says that “Cuba’s Soberana (Sovereignty) 02, COVID-19 vaccine seems to be increasingly a good candidate to receive the first approval for general application,” and keeps on to praise the island’s scientific efforts by noting that “this is a truly commendable achievement for Cuba, a small State, which, among the many, has four (4) vaccines listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as in various stages of development. It has vaccines among the 23 at the advanced phase 3 in the development process. Soberana 02 is one of two vaccines being developed by the Finlay Vaccines Institute. The others are being developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.”

The success of Cuban medical protocols to control the epidemic were also underscored in the CARICOM webpage article “Like other Caribbean countries also, Cuba managed COVID-19 infections in the country quite well in 2020 until it began to reopen its borders in November and the cases began to increase. In August 2020, Cuba had indicated its intention to develop a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine. The country currently has recorded 71,584 cases with 414 deaths. The approved local vaccine will first be used to inoculate the Cuban population, at least 6 million people.”

The article also recalls Cuba’s cooperation with other Caribbean nations in the field of health CARICOM countries have benefitted, over the years, from scholarships to have students study in Cuba. Cuban doctors and nurses have been coming to work in the region including recently to assist with COVID, and CARICOM nationals have utilized healthcare services in Cuba.
READ the full CARICOM article Here https://today.caricom.org/2021/03/31/cubas-covid-19-vaccines/