(auto-translated from spanish)
Made in Cuba: the most advanced coronavirus vaccine in Latin America
If it were not for the unwritten premise of hegemonic journalism that all the good things about Cuba are not told, it would be striking that the news has gone practically unnoticed: these days, the “Sovereign 01” vaccine began clinical trials in humans and it became the first in Latin America - and in the so-called “underdeveloped world” - to advance to this second phase.
So far there are 167 potential vaccines registered against Covid-19 . The Cuban woman joined 29 others that the WHO has already approved for clinical studies, six of which are in phase 3, that of large-scale human testing. In Latin America there are another dozen indigenous vaccines in development but, except for the Cuban one, all are in the preclinical phase.
The vaccine candidate that the island produces is walking steadily. Since the clinical trials began on August 24, "it reports zero serious adverse event after the injection of the first 20 volunteers, " as tweeted Dagmar García Rivera, director of research at the Finlay Institute, the Cuban state scientific center that directs the project. . The sample will include 676 people between 19 and 80 years old and the results are expected to be on February 1. In case of a happy ending, Cuba will have its own vaccine against the coronavirus available to the population in the first quarter of 2021.
Walk briskly and briskly. “What is normally done in years, has been achieved in just under three months,” says Vicente Vérez Bencomo, CEO of Finlay. 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 in 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 from the universities and a Scientific Pole was created with the aim of combining research with production.
The manufacture of vaccines is one of the most significant achievements: Cuba produces eight of the eleven vaccines of its national immunization program, which has a coverage greater than 98% and, of course, is free and universal. In 1962 the first vaccination campaign was carried out with which it became the first country to eradicate poliomyelitis. Another of its milestones was to achieve, in 1990, its own vaccine against Hepatitis-B, practically achieving the disappearance of that disease. And a noteworthy fact: the Cuban medical research platform, made up of 32 state companies with more than 10,000 workers dedicated to the production of medicines and vaccines, is made up mostly of women.
Sovereignty, the key word
Achieving a 100% national vaccine in a country with great economic limitations - mainly due to the blockade of the United States - is of vital importance. President Miguel Díaz-Canel highlighted the concept that names and deciphers “Soberana 01”: “The name of the vaccine reflects the feeling of patriotism and revolutionary and humanist commitment with which it has worked. Exploits like these reaffirm our pride in being Cubans ”.
The policy of manufacturing and applying vaccines is only one leg of a comprehensive health system that is an example in the world. In 1959 Cuba had just 6 thousand doctors and today it has more than 100 thousand, the highest number per inhabitant in Latin America and one of the highest globally. It is also the only country in the region that eliminated severe child malnutrition: none of the 146 million underweight children living in the world today is Cuban.
The emphasis on preventive medicine was also key to controlling the coronavirus . After almost six months of pandemic, Cuba registers little more than 4 thousand infections and only 95 deaths ; one of the lowest mortality rates in the world with 8 deaths per million inhabitants (the highest is Peru with 871).
The island’s health training has its universal bastion in the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), where in 20 years 7,248 doctors from 45 countries have graduated, including about 200 Americans.
Perhaps that internationalist solidarity is the main hallmark of the Cuban model. The medical brigades, which have been deployed around the world for six decades, have put the body in all natural disasters and epidemics (from the 1960 earthquake in Chile to Ebola in Africa). Prior to the pandemic, there were about 30 thousand health workers serving in 61 countries, to which 46 brigades that left this year to collaborate in the fight against Covid-19 were added . The proposal that has been gaining strength to award the “army in white coats” - as Fidel Castro called it - the Nobel Peace Prize does not sound crazy then.
** NODAL editor. Author of the book “América Latina. Traces and challenges of the progressive cycle ”. He hosts the radio program “Al sur del Río Bravo”.*