(Dan Tri) – In addition to mobilizing a team of doctors around the world to help fight the epidemic, Cuba is making rapid progress in preparing 5 types of Covid-19 vaccines, although the economy is still difficult due to the orders.
A Covid-19 vaccine candidate that Cuba is developing (Photo: EPA).
Since the 1980s, the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro set the goal of turning the Caribbean island nation into a `giant` in biotechnology with a starting point of 6 researchers in a small laboratory in the capital.
About 40 years later, the island nation of 11 million people is said to be approaching a breakthrough: `Becoming the smallest country in the world to develop not just one but many Covid-19 vaccines.`
Cuba is currently developing five Covid-19 vaccine candidates, of which two are in the final stage of clinical trials with the goal of expanded vaccination in May.
According to the Washington Post, if Cuba’s development efforts are successful, this will be considered a `miracle` demonstrating Cuba’s medical capacity in a context where the country still suffers from many shortages due to embargoes.
Cuba possesses a very developed medical system compared to the average in the world and is one of the countries with the highest ratio of doctors per capita in the world.
Potential vaccine candidate
Cuban doctors carried a photo of late leader Fidel Castro during a farewell ceremony before leaving for Italy to help fight the Covid-19 epidemic last year (Photo: Reuters).
Cuban officials said they are developing a vaccine in the form of a cheap and easy-to-store serum.
If successful, Cuba’s vaccine will become a viable option for tropical, low-income countries that cannot buy enough vaccines because larger, more capable countries have already purchased all the necessary amounts.
Iran and Venezuela signed a vaccine deal with Havana.
`We have great confidence in Cuba’s medical science and biotechnology industry. Cuban vaccines are truly the solution for our people,` Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told the Washington Post.
If phase 3 trials are positive, Cuba will move to large-scale `intervention research` by vaccinating most of Havana’s 1.7 million residents by May. By August, Cuba aims to vaccinate
If the above goal is achieved, Cuba will become one of the first countries in the world to achieve herd immunity, opening up opportunities for this island nation to attract tourism with vaccination and export.
Cuba affirms that its main goal is to help all Cubans become immune and control the spread of pathogens.
Cuba has so far recorded 74,000 Covid-19 cases and 421 people died from the epidemic.
Isabella 
Eliana