Cuba Covid success exceeds global expectations
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Over 90 percent of the population has received one dose and 83 percent are fully immunized.
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Citizens ar receiving their booster shots in Havana (Reuters)
Cuba has officially vaccinated more of its population than any other large nation on the planet.
Over 90 percent of its population has received at least one dose of Cuba's homegrown vaccines, with 83 percent fully immunized.
According to data by Our World in Data, the country is second to the UAE in countries with populations of at least 1 million. Over 90 percent of the population has received one dose and 83 percent are fully immunized.
According to John Kirk, a retired Canadian Dalhuosies university professor, "Cuba is a victim of magical realism...The idea that Cuba, with only 11 million people, and limited income, could be a biotech power, might be incomprehensible for someone working at Pfizer, but for Cuba it is possible."
Cuba became the world's smallest state to successfully produce and distribute its own Covid vaccines last spring.
According to scientific trials completed last spring in Cuba, both vaccines are more than 90% effective.
Effective implementation has dropped infection rates from among the highest last summer to low levels today.
The island recorded hundreds of Covid fatal infections last August per week; last week there were only three.
Cuba's vaccination rates surpass more affluent countries
According to William Moss, director of the Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center, “It is a truly remarkable accomplishment, given the size of Cuba, and also the US embargo, that restricts their ability to import."
When administered in three doses, Cuba assures that their domestic, protein-based Abdala, Soberana 02, and Soberana Plus injections provide up to 90% protection against infection.
Cuba's vaccines are regarded by health experts as a possible source for doses in low-income countries in Latin America, African, and Asia, due to them not requiring deep freezing as well as their cheap production costs.
