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With two vaccines producing COVID-19 vaccines in three three-phase clinical trials, Cuba may be the first Latin American country to develop its own shot against coronavirus.
The 11-million-strong island, which has suffered a severe U.S. trade embargo for decades, is developing five experimental shootings, including Soberana 02 and Abdala, which reached the final stages of testing last month.
The names of the vaccines show how Cuba sees the national effort. The sovereign returns as a “sovereign,” while the shot Abdala was named after the patriotic poem by the Cuban revolutionary hero Jose Marti.
About 44,000 people will receive the Soberana 02 vaccine, and about 48,000 volunteers have been hired for the Abdala trial. According to local reports, the first 150,000 more workers will also receive the Soberana 02 shooting.
The Center for Genetic and Biotechnological Engineering, which is being developed by Abdala, expects the results of the experiment to be “effective” in early June, and the results of the Sovereign Survey 02 being developed by the Finlay Institute are expected in May. .
“There are already positive preliminary results,” Ricardo Perez, head of international relations at the Finlay Vaccine Institute, told Al Jazeera.
“These will allow us to submit a dossier to the Cuban authorities, which will allow us to apply for emergency use of the product, not as a candidate, but as a product … probably by the end of next month,” he said.
Dr. Gerardo Guillen, director of Biomedical Research at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, told Al Jazeera that there is a high level of trust among people in candidate vaccines.
“Because health is universal and free and centers do not have access to these vaccines, these conditions remove many ethical barriers and create a great deal of trust in research and vaccine production centers,” he said.
Cuba hopes to include all its inhabitants before the end of the year. The Finlay Institute says it can generate 100 million doses of the Sovereign 02 vaccine this year. The goal is to meet the country’s demand and be able to export the rest of the plans.
It is an ambitious goal, but the country’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have a long history and have created several vaccines including shots against hepatitis B and B meningitis.
“Cuba has been developing vaccines since the 1980s, so although it does not have a bad and functional economy, the government has managed to develop an important technological platform for a small country,” Cuban economist Ricardo Torres told Al Jazeera.
Dr. Jose Moya, a representative of the Pan American Health Organization of Cuba, said the island already develops 80 percent of its national immunization program.
“Cuba has the capacity to do that,” Dr. Moya told Al Jazeera. “That’s also important for the region, that’s for sure [also] open up the opportunity to transfer technology to our countries, ”Dr. Moya said.
A health worker asks questions in the quarantine field about the concerns of the Chronovirus in Havana (Cuba) [File: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters]
The island’s race to develop vaccines faces a plethora of recent infections. The seven-day average of new infections was more than 1,100 on April 28, according to the report Our world in data. The death toll in Cuba has risen to 614 since the pandemic began.
For much of last year, the country had a very low rate of new infections. The rise came in November after the government opened restrictions on international travel. However, the number of infections and deaths remains much lower in Cuba than in other parts of the world, as new variants have overtaken health systems in several countries.
The government did not buy vaccines from other countries and Cuba did not sign the COVAX scheme, a vaccine sharing initiative Sponsored by the World Health Organization, and developed by Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi. The government has not given an opinion on the decision to focus on the production of domestic vaccines.
Dr. Guillen noted that some countries have had problems with vaccine supply chains, and said the U.S. embargo on Cuba makes it difficult for some materials to enter.
“Some countries that have already signed contracts have not been able to get their doses [bought], due to the lack of availability of vaccines, ”Dr. Guillen said.
“Access to Cuba is more difficult due to the embargo. That’s why we need to focus on our capabilities and strengths, and that’s what we’re doing, ”he added.
In Cuba today, on average, there is an increase of more than 1,100 cases per day [File:Ramon Espinosa/Reuters]
The U.S. embargo on Cuba is one of the longest-running trade embargoes in modern history. In the late 1950s, the embargo banned most U.S. companies and individuals from doing business in Cuba.
According to the embargo, there are businesses not supported the sale of any medical product containing more than 20% of its American ingredients to Cuba and the regulations require an individual license for equipment containing more than 10 percent.
In the presidency of Donald Trump, 90 new economic restrictions were established in Cuba. These focused on financial transactions, tourism, energy and foreign investment.
The blockade has made it difficult to get the raw materials needed to produce vaccines and make payments to Cuban international suppliers, Dr. Guillen said.
“This is a very strict blockade,” he said. “We try to get products that don’t have American technology, but sometimes it’s very difficult, so we have to go through third countries and often those countries are also blocked … Cuban technology is blocked,” he added.
However, as the vaccine trial has progressed, the government has talked about sending the doses to, among others, Venezuela and Iran, where Soberana 02 is also in testing for the new phase.
Earlier this month Venezuela announced signing the agreement Which would allow Abdala to produce the vaccine with Cuba.
“So far the priority has been to develop a vaccine [Cuba’s] population, ”Dr. Guillen said.
“Cuba has always been open to South-South cooperation, however, our production capacity is not unlimited, so we need to discuss it with our members, [and find] different ways to deal with it, ”he added.
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