(Jamaica Gleaner) Before Jamaica gets its shipment of COVID-19 vaccines next year, Cuba could well inoculate half of its 11 million citizens against the virus which has crippled global economies, trade and travel for much of 2020, leaving behind a staggering death toll.
Jamaica’s closest neighbour currently has eight vaccines designed to provide protection against 13 diseases, including COVID-19, and is well under way with clinical trials for drugs developed to fight the deadly coronavirus.
Dr José Armando Villamarin, who heads the Cuban medical mission in Jamaica, said the Spanish-speaking country’s medical brigades fighting the virus around the world, including those in Jamaica, will be among the first to be vaccinated.
“Cuba expects that in the first semester of next year, a significant part of the Cuban population will be vaccinated against COVID-19,” he said, boasting that the country has a strong history in biotechnology. “It is no coincidence that Cuba was the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to have a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 in the clinical trials phase.”
The country has two drugs – Sovereign 01 and 02 – among the 47 candidates registered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight the pandemic. The Cuban vaccines do not require storage at extremely low temperatures.
“Soberana 01 and Soberana 02 are two different vaccines,” explained Villamarin. “Both Sovereigns 01 and 02 use the same antigen, produced by a cell known as CHO. This antigen is obtained through conventional biotechnological production at the Center for Molecular Immunology. The difference is that Soberana 02 is a conjugate vaccine, in which the virus antigen and tetanus toxoid are combined.”
In the case of Soberana 02, Cuba was strengthening an existing vaccine “whose viability of the tetanus toxoid vaccine has been proven”, while Mambisa (CIGB 669) is a nasal spray with effect to block the transmission of the virus from its access to the body through the epithelial cells of the nose, he said.
Vaccine producers hope their drugs will grant short-, medium- or long-term immunity. The current influenza vaccine must be taken annually and is recommended for vulnerable groups within populations, such as the elderly with co-morbidities, on whom COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll.
Villamarin said only time will determine the period and frequency of immunity of the vaccines under clinical trial there.
“Practice is the evaluative criterion of truth. That is why clinical trials are done and these trials can last for years. Only a prolonged study in time can help scientists to determine, with certainty, the duration of the effects of the vaccine; that is, if those inoculated will be immunised temporarily or permanently,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Six persons contacted by our news team last week, who have either studied or sought medical care in Cuba, said they would be willing to take a vaccine developed by the Caribbean country.
“Anything Cuba is giving to Cubans, I am willing to take. Once there is a way to get it, I am going to get it,” said a Jamaican, who said that at one point, “Jamaican medical professionals gave me up for dead until I went to Cuba.
“See me here, 100 per cent recovered,” he said, asking that his condition not be disclosed.
Others said they were reading with interest the information on the vaccines from that country, some saying that “if needs be”, they will go there to get it.
As for its availability on a wider scale to Jamaicans, Villamarin said that was a decision for the Jamaican Government.
“I believe that this question should be asked of the Jamaican authorities, which are empowered to decide on the use or not of any drug or vaccine in the country and its administration protocols. Cuba is very respectful of that right,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the Cuban vaccine was not an option for Jamaica currently.
“As of now, our vaccine options are confined to the COVAX facility that we have signed on to and coordinated by the WHO/PAHO (Pan American Health Organization). That would include Moderna, not Pfizer or the Cuban vaccines. The situation could change over time, but this is the current status and is based on our dependence on a few factors, including WHO to validate the vaccine trials, ensuring we get access to vaccine when available, and support on pricing,” Tufton said yesterday.
He acknowledged Jamaica’s strong relationship with Cuba in the area of health, but said the area of immunisation is not one of those areas.
Jamaicans wishing to take the Cuban vaccine cannot be prevented, he told The Sunday Gleaner.
“There is no law to prevent anyone from taking a vaccine that the Government does not sanction. However, access may be difficult unless the person visit the jurisdiction where it is being administered,” said Tufton.
While recognition from the WHO would be welcome for the vaccine, Cuba can make the decision to inoculate its citizens without it.
“Cuba, as a sovereign country, can make decisions and has the technical endorsement of the CECMED (Center for State Control of Medicines), but it is always preferable to have the endorsement of that organisation (WHO) and the certification that they have been complied with all internationally accepted protocols for vaccine development,” Villamarin stated.
That sovereignty, he said, has allowed it to achieve 100 per cent coverage in its vaccination programme, among the highest in the world, and “with this, we have achieved an impact on the elimination of a group of diseases and the significant reduction of other diseases”.
At the recent Caribbean Community-Cuba Summit, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez gave assurances of his country’s willingness to cooperate modestly with the rest of the Caribbean in the sphere of public health, especially in confronting the COVID-19.
“We are in a position to share our experiences, contribute advice in the epidemiological field and at the same time maintain the offer of scholarships in medicine and other specialities,” he said.
Currently, 741 Caribbean scholarship recipients are studying in Cuba, while 2,048 Cuban doctors, technicians, nurses, sports coaches, engineers and teachers provide collaboration in 19 countries and territories of the Caribbean.
“We remain willing to continue cooperating in the areas where it is needed,” he said.