Cuba’s Covid-19 Success Story

Stunning beaches and historic colonial buildings are likely the first things to come to mind when thinking of Cuba. However, this Caribbean country offers more than incredible beaches and tasty mojitos — it is a leader in global healthcare.

In fact, Cuba has had more success with Covid treatments than many larger Western countries. Keep reading to learn more about Cuba’s Covid-19 success story and its incredible healthcare system.

Cuba’s vaccine success

Not only has 90% of Cuba’s population been vaccinated against Covid, but Cuba has become the smallest country in the world to develop its own Covid vaccines.

Like many Latin American countries, Cuba knew that it would be a challenge to purchase vaccines on the international market. Instead of waiting on the rest of the world to develop a vaccine, Cuba’s scientists got to work. The result was the development of not one, but five different Covid vaccines, including Soberana 02, Soberana Plus, and Abdala, all of which are reported to have at least 90% protection over three doses.

Today, Cuba has vaccinated more of its people than all of the world’s major nations. Out of the 90% of Cuba’s population with at least one vaccine dose, 83% are fully vaccinated with all three doses. These statistics include children aged two and above, who started receiving vaccine doses several months ago. The only country with a higher vaccination rate is the United Arab Emirates.

Cuba has begun to roll out booster shots to the entire population to protect against other Covid variants. Currently, Cuba is the only Latin American and Caribbean country to produce a homegrown vaccine against Covid.

While Cuba’s vaccines have yet to undergo review from the international health community, Cuba has engaged with the World Health Organization to begin the Emergency Use Listing process for their Covid vaccines.

Hope for the global south

The United States’ vaccines, like Pfizer and Moderna, use MRNA technology, but Cuba’s vaccines work differently. Instead of utilizing mRNA technology, Cuba’s vaccines use subunit proteins, similar to the Noravax vaccine. This technology is crucial for getting low-income countries vaccinated, as these vaccines are cheaper to produce, don’t require deep freezing, and can be manufactured at scale.

These more accessible vaccines create hope for the global south, as low vaccination rates persist in Africa and South America. However, the WHO would need to approve these vaccines to be distributed to lower-income countries. The evaluation process involves an examination of the production facilities, which is a critical factor that has slowed the approval process of the vaccines. However, many countries in the global south see Cuba’s vaccines as a beacon of hope for getting vaccinated by 2025.

Cuba’s more affordable vaccines not only provide hope for lower-income countries but for the entire planet as we continue the battle against Covid. Poorer populations without vaccine access are often the source of Covid mutations and variants, which creates more disease in the long run, even for countries that have a high vaccination rate. The sooner Cuba’s vaccines can be approved, the sooner the variants stop mutating, helping the entire planet reach herd immunity.

Cuba’s investment in the public healthcare system

You might be wondering how Cuba, a small country with limited funds, managed to develop multiple successful Covid vaccines. It comes down to this country’s history, priorities, and allocation of resources.

In Cuba, healthcare is considered a fundamental human right, reflected in its practices and policies. In 1959, Cuba’s government began dismantling its for-profit healthcare system. This resulted in a free healthcare system for its citizens. Today, Cuba’s health policy prioritizes primary care, prevention, community services, and citizen participation.

Despite economic disadvantages, Cuba’s population has high rankings on national health indicators. In fact, Cuba’s population has a higher life expectancy than the population of the United States. The U.S. life expectancy is about 71.9, while Cuba’s is 72.5. Cuba also has a 26% lower infant mortality rate than the United States.

Cuba has less wealth and resources than the major world powers. Still, it consistently outranks them in terms of the success of their health system, showing that it’s not a matter of wealth and resources, but of priorities.

Sending Cuban doctors abroad

Not only is Cuba at the cutting edge of Covid vaccine development, but they have also provided ample aid to third-world countries with their surplus of doctors. Sending doctors abroad isn’t a new venture for them; they’ve been doing it since their government reform in 1959. Since then, Cuba has dispatched many doctors to help with various disease outbreaks, like Ebola in West Africa and cholera in Haiti.

Cuba has one of the highest physicians per capita, and even before the pandemic struck, had about 28,000 doctors deployed. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cuba has dispatched thousands more of its doctors to aid with Covid outbreaks. This hasn’t been limited to low-income countries; Italy, Peru, and Andorra have welcomed Cuban medics to mitigate the rising number of Covid patients.

In more recent years, Cuba has exported doctors on more standard missions in exchange for money or goods, making this commodity an integral part of their economy. In the past few months, Mexico has hired over 500 Cuban doctors to deal with their shortage of medical professionals, in addition to purchasing vaccine dosages from Cuba.

Cuba is unbeatable in terms of training doctors, providing doctors to its own citizens, and exporting doctors abroad. Since 1960, about 400,000 Cuban doctors have worked in 164 countries. In addition, Cuba has trained nearly 29,000 doctors from developing countries at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.

Final thoughts

Due to Cuba’s belief that healthcare is a fundamental human right, it’s no wonder that they have created multiple Covid vaccines. Additionally, they have trained thousands of doctors every year, provided healthcare aid for other countries, and developed an incredible healthcare system. Cuba’s vaccines are a gamechanger, not just for developing countries, but for the whole world as we work to mitigate the lingering variants of Covid-19.

Love Cuba is the UK’s leading Cuba holiday specialist. Click here for more info on Cuba holidays, Multi Centre Cuba Holidays or Tailor Made Cuba Holidays please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly team of Cuba holiday specialists on 0207 071 3636 or email enquiries@lovecuba.com