Photo Source: NatalieMaynor – CC BY 2.0
Cuba’s socialist approach to the development of vaccines against COVID-19 differs markedly from that of capitalist countries in the world. Cuba’s production of four vaccines is based on science and is committed to saving the lives of all Cubans and to international solidarity.
The New York Times’ ongoing report on the world’s vaccination programs shows that 67 vaccines have progressed to human trials; 20 of them are in the final phase of trials or have completed them. The United States, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, and India each produced many vaccines; most countries that produce vaccines offer one or two vaccines.
Cuba is the only vaccine manufacturer in Latin America; there is no one in Africa. The only state-owned enterprises that produce the leading vaccines are those of Cuba and Russia.
Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute has produced two COVID-19 vaccines. Trials for one of them, called Sovereign I, focus on protecting people previously infected with COVID-19. The antibody levels of some of them appear to be low, and the vaccine may give a boost.
The other vaccine, Sovereign II, is about to start final human trials. To verify this protection, tens of thousands of subjects are needed, one half receiving the vaccine and the other half a placebo vaccine. The population of Cuba is relatively small, 11 million people, too small to produce enough infected people in the short time to test the protective effect of the vaccine. Therefore, Sovereign II will be tested in Iran.
100 million doses of Sovereign II are being prepared, enough to immunize all 11 million Cubans, starting in March or April. The remaining 70 million doses go to Vietnam, Iran, Pakistan, India, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Sovereign II “will be the vaccine of ALBA,” explained Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, referring to the Solidarity Covenant established in 2004 by Cuban Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro of Cuba.
‘Cuba’s strategy to commercialize the vaccine represents a combination of what is good for humanity and the impact on world health. We are not a multinational sector where a financial goal comes first, ‘says Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, Cuba. Proceeds from vaccine sales abroad will pay for health care, education and pensions in Cuba, just as with the export of medical services and medicines.
Cuba’s Center for Genetic and Biotechnological Engineering is developing two more COVID-19 vaccines; One, called “Mambisa” (meaning a female fighter in the liberation wars of Spain) is administered via the nasal route, just like Cuba’s vaccination against hepatitis B. The other vaccine, called “Abdala” (a character in a Jose Marti poem), is administered intramuscularly. The two vaccines are involved in early trials.
Cuba was ready
Cuban education emphasizes science and technology. In the 1990s, Cuba had 11% of Latin American scientists at doctoral level. Cuban scientists work in the approximately 50 biomedical research and production facilities that make up the state-run BioCubaFarma Corporation of Cuba, which manufacture vaccines, medicines, medical tests and medical equipment. This is 60% of the medicines used in Cuba, and 8 out of 12 vaccines.
Cuba previously produced a groundbreaking vaccine that prevents life-threatening infection caused by type B meningococcus. Cuba has developed a genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine and a vaccine that provides palliative care for lung cancer. A vaccine developed by Cuba provides protection against infection, especially meningitis in children, caused by the B bacterium Hemophilus Influenza.
In the formation of vaccines, Cuban scientists rely on known technology.
To provide an immunological extra, the antigen of Cuba’s Sovereign II vaccine is mixed with tetanus toxoid, as was done with the Kophas vaccine Hemophilus influenza. As with other vaccines, scientists used a segment of the virus’ protein – here the COVID-19 virus – to form an antigen to stimulate protective antibodies. In contrast, the American Pfizer and Moderna vaccines contain the entire viral protein, not a segment. This protein contains ‘genetic instructions’ that invade human cells, causing them to ‘make proteins which are then released into the body’ where they cause antibodies.
Observers suggest that this innovative American technology may be less safe than that used in Cuban vaccines. The Cuban vaccines are not suitable for areas without adequate cooling, just like the American vaccines.
Cuba’s biomedical manufacturing sector has also created medicines for the treatment of Covid-19 infection. Interferon, an antiviral drug developed in Cuba, manufactured in China and used around the world, prevents many Covid-infected patients from becoming critically ill. The Cuban anti-inflammatory drug Jusvinza, used to treat autoimmune diseases, and Cuba’s monoclonal antibody Itolizumab, which moderate exaggerated immune responses, are both effective in reducing Covid-19 deaths.
The other side
The US approach to the manufacture and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is based on private enterprises, although the US government has provided billions of dollars to pharmaceutical companies to produce vaccines free of charge. The companies contracted with buyers abroad.
According to forbes.com in November 2020, ‘As Moderna’s [vaccine] FDA approval and getting enough doses, its top line could be nearly $ 35 billion higher … than … in the last twelve months. Another report suggests that companies (Pfizer and Moderna) could earn billions of dollars this year from their COVID vaccines [and] there will be more profits in years to come. The companies ‘claim the rights to large quantities of intellectual property’.
With companies in charge, the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has been skewed. On January 27, “approximately 66.83 million doses were shipped, of which 93 percent were delivered to only 15 countries.” In Latin America, only Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Chile have obtained contracts of sale that are sufficient to immunize the entire population. The companies’ contracts with African countries provide for the vaccination of only 30 percent of Africans in 2021.
The distribution of wealth determines distribution. Duke University epidemiologists report that, “While high-income countries represent only 16% of the world population, they currently own 60% of the COVID-19 vaccines purchased so far.” Cuban journalist Randy Alonso reports that only “27 percent of the total population of low- and middle-income countries can be vaccinated this year.”
‘‘The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the poorest countries in the world,’ said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization, declared on 18 January. He warned that ‘some countries and companies continue to prioritize bilateral transactions, to drive COVAX around, to raise prices and to jump ahead.’
The WHO has launched the global vaccine collaboration COVAX to ensure poor countries’ access to COVID-19 vaccines. The 190 countries enrolled have agreed to receive vaccines via COVAX. Rich countries will provide COVAX funds to enable 90 poor countries to receive free vaccines. COVAX provides the distribution of two billion doses, enough to immunize only 25% of the population of poor countries by 2021.
Problems include: rich countries order vaccinations independent of COVAX; they buy more vaccine than they need; manufacturers set prices; and prices are secret, volatile and very high.
Most other countries that produce COVID-19 vaccines differ from Cuba because of their profit motive and because they are complicit in the US economic blockade of Cuba. Following routines for overseas trade matters, they all too easily conform to U.S. regulations enforcing cruel policies. Even more: the US blockade is hampering Cuba’s vaccination efforts, and they are silent.
“In Cuba, we do not have all the raw materials and supplies we need for the unprecedented production scale that vaccines our entire population,” explained Dagmar García-Rivera, director of research at Finlay Vaccine Institute in Cuba. “They have to be bought and for that we need financing. It is becoming infinitely more difficult for the American embargo … Obtaining the necessary reagents for research and the raw materials for production is a challenge we face on a daily basis. “
In the face of the pandemic, Cuba is paying attention to detail indicating a level of caring and concern that does not match elsewhere. For example, Cuba’s government – friendly website cubadebate.cu provides a daily, detailed update on the impact of the infection. The January 27 report contains data on cities, provinces, the country and the world – and the country’s intensive care units. Readers understand that of 43 patients in intensive care that day, 16 were in a critical condition, stable or unstable, and 27 in a ‘serious’ condition.
All 43 cases are reviewed, starting with: ” A 75-year-old Cuban citizen of Alquízar, in Artemisa, who already suffers from arterial hypertension and ischemic cardiopathy, who is aborted, with mechanical ventilation, is hemodynamically stable … with acceptable blood gases (oxygen and CO2), is radiologically improved with inflammatory lesions on the right side [lung] basis – reported as critical but stable. The cases of four Cubans who died that day are also being presented.
Fighting a pandemic in Cuba is not a coincidence, he said. The health of the people of Cuba is not either.