Cuba’s homegrown biotech sector has developed FIVE vaccines against Covid-19, all of which offer 90%-plus efficacy. Cuba pours resources into healthcare, and has doctors and clinics in every neighborhood. To fight Covid-19, it’s vaccinating every Cuban over age 2, and most of its people are already vaccinated.
Cuba’s stunning accomplishments in the field of Covid-19 vaccines has “enormous significance” for the world, experts say, because Cuba is poised to become a major vaccine supplier to poor countries, and their best hope for fully vaccinating their populations.
Cuba hasn’t escaped Covid-19 unscathed, but according to Johns Hopkins’ Covidtracker database, only about 9% of their people have been infected, and with a population of 11 million — about 1/30th of America’s — they’ve had 8,330 deaths compared to 843,624 U.S. deaths. That’s a death rate of 1/3rd of ours. But they don’t have anti-vaxxers or anti-maskers, either.
Read story here.
Cuba does some things well and I would not be surprised if their vaccines are better than ours and at least they are vaccines. Still their Drs and health care professionals make the about the same as any other worker. No one is moving to Cuba but Cubans would like to move here. [Edited comment]
In Cuba, you don’t need money to become a doctor, and you don’t make money being a doctor. I suspect some of their doctors are happy to have an opportunity they wouldn’t have here. Others may be building rafts.