Cuba’s Covid vaccine may be eligible for tourists

Cuba’s most advanced Covid-19 vaccine candidate is expected to enter late-stage clinical trials next week, bringing the tiny island nation closer and closer to an extraordinary medical success that analysts believe it will have. far-reaching consequences throughout the southern world.

Cuba’s most promising vacant candidate, of the four it has in development, is called Sovereign 02. The name of the vaccine translates from Spanish as “sovereign”, an ostensible nod to Cuba’s sense of national pride for its system. world-renowned health.

Sovereign 02 will have to enter Phase 3 testing starting March 1 and officials say the testing will include up to 150,000 volunteers in a few weeks. Phase 3 trials represent the final stage before a vaccine is generally approved by national regulators.

It comes at a time when many people in Cuba are forced to wait hours in a row to buy commodities and while the authorities continue to navigate an American trade embargo decades ago, with sanctions even tougher in recent years for the former President Donald Trump.

“It’s this incredible dichotomy,” Helen Yaffe, a Cuba expert and professor of economic and social history at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, told CNBC by telephone.

“On the one hand, you have this high-tech biotech sector that brings a lot of hope to the global south because it’s the possibility of an affordable vaccine – (and) vaccinating the global south will be the priority,” Yaffe said.

“And at the same time, Cubans get up at four or five in the morning to queue up because there’s a real shortage of really basic food and even medicine.”

The Finlay Institute of Cuba, the country’s leading biopharmaceutical institution, is overseeing the development of Soberana 02. Dr. Vicente Verez, director of the institute, has hinted that the vaccine could be available as an option for tourists by the end of ‘this year.

If Sovereign 02 is shown to be safe and effective, the development of a nationally produced vaccine is likely to be achieved as an amazing scientific breakthrough and significant political triumph. He would also see Cuba become the first Latin American country to immunize its population with a nationally produced vaccine.

The government has not yet outlined specific plans for the inoculation of tourists, but analysts say it is possible that foreigners traveling to Cuba may receive the first dose of vaccine on the island before receiving subsequent doses to take them away. them at home.

Although public data are limited, it is believed that up to three doses of vaccine can be administered at two-week intervals.

Yaffe, who is also the author of “We Are Cuba !: How a Revolutionary People Survived in a Post-Soviet World,” said Cuba’s sophisticated health care system would help the country deploy the vaccine “extremely” quickly.

“I can guarantee that. And if they have a vaccine that is done every two weeks, within a month of starting people could be vaccinated,” Yaffe said.

“In the summer, people will be quite desperate to go on holiday and I think Cuba is proposed as an ideal destination. People are already talking about sun, sea, sand and Sovereign 02. So I don’t it would be strange if people end up going to Cuba looking for the vaccine and I’m sure the Cubans will offer it. “

Sovereign Vaccine 02 is a conjugate vaccine. It is a type of vaccine that carries a portion of the ear protein that binds or conjugates to human cells to enhance its stability and effectiveness.

Unlike other coronavirus vaccine candidates, such as Pfizer-BioNTech, Sovereign 02 does not require additional cooling requirements. This is likely to simplify the logistical and administrative challenges associated with vaccination programs in low-income countries.

In a virtual session led by the Pan American Health Organization on February 5, Dr. Verez said Sovereign 02 had returned “encouraging results” during the early stages of testing. He added that the vaccination had not yet generated any significant adverse reactions.

The Cuban government has said it will produce 100 million doses of Sovereign 02 this year to meet the demands of its own citizens and other countries. Its goal is to be one of the first countries in the world to vaccinate its entire population in 2021, even though many advanced nations began administering jabs nearly two months ago.

Several countries have expressed interest in acquiring the vaccine, including Vietnam, Iran, Venezuela and the African Union, which represents the 55 countries in Africa.

Cuba, which has reported relatively few cases of Covid compared to other countries in the region, has experienced a sharp rise in infections and fatalities in recent weeks. To date, Cuba has recorded 45,361 cases of coronavirus and 300 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Cuba has long been recognized for its medical diplomacy, with thousands of specialized personnel sent abroad to help countries deal with short-term crises, natural disasters and medical emergencies.

Human rights groups have expressed concern that the Cuban government is imposing repressive rules on doctors working abroad, citing the right to privacy, freedom and freedom of expression and association.

At the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, it was estimated that Cuba had 24,500 medical staff working in 58 countries. 4,000 more members of the Henry Reeve Brigade of Cuba, a group of highly respected health professionals, have gone to work in Kuwait countries in Mexico, Italy in South Africa.

It is a deeply rooted tradition which means that the country of just over 11 million is believed to have more medical staff working abroad than all the G-7 countries put together.

“This is an extraordinary record, mostly unknown to the mainstream media: one of the best kept secrets in the world,” John Kirk, a professor of Latin America at Dalhousie University in New America, told CNBC by email. Scotland, Canada.

“Medical internationalism is embedded in Cuban DNA and, in fact, the preamble to the Cuban constitution mentions Cuba’s commitment to share its medical talent with developing countries,” he added.