By: Zelmys María Dominguez Cortina, Ambassador of Cuba in Greece.
Since the beginning of the Cuban revolution in 1959, free and universal education and health care were established at all levels, and without discrimination. The development of science was prioritized. The Science and Technological Innovation System and the Scientific-Productive Poles were established, such as the West Havana Scientific Pole, which resulted in what is today the Group of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries of Cuba, BioCubaFarma, business organization that investigates, develops, produces and markets drugs, vaccines, diagnostic systems, medical equipment, based on technical scientific development, aimed at improving the health of the people and generating exportable goods and services. Strategic sector for the country, meets high quality standards and has a high international prestige.
Furthermore, Cuba has distinguished itself for its spirit of solidarity and internationalism. It has received medical students, sent professors to create or strengthen medical schools and medical brigades in various countries. For example, Brigades of the International Contingent of Specialized Doctors in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics Henry Reeve work in several countries against the COVID 19 pandemic, as they did before against Ebola in Africa.
Faced with the COVID 19 pandemic, Cuba activated its solid health system; mobilized the national scientific potential and its bio-pharmaceutical industry; and had the support of the people. That is why it was possible to quickly develop effective national protocols for the care of those infected and suspected of Covid-19, create hospitalization capacities for all those infected; guarantee the full sustainability of intensive care services, institutional isolation of the patients’ contacts, free access to PCR or antigen tests; as well as the start-up of molecular biology laboratories in all the country’s provinces. All this effort of the Nation has allowed to maintain, comparatively, a very low lethality of the pandemic.
It is remarkable that Cuba has also produced 5 vaccine candidates and applied 3 of these, in intervention studies or health interventions, to millions of Cubans. One of these, the vaccine candidate Abdala, after applying the three-dose formulation, has an efficacy of 92.28 percent, which places it well above the requirement of the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare as such to a vaccine against COVID-19.
It is an illustrative result of the effort of science at the service of the people and of the effectiveness of the public function. A robust system of science and technological innovation, allied to the free and quality universal health system, with highly specialized human resources, has made it possible to confront the pandemic and the results that Cuba has obtained throughout the history of the revolution. All these achievements have been despite the obstacles implied by the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba, for more than 60 years, and all the unilateral coercive measures associated with it, which has been rejected by the majority by the General Assembly of the United Nations every year.
