‘Cuba’s public-led model of scientific development might well end up being a key contribution to the way out of the pandemic, not only for its own people but also for those in low and middle income countries too’, the portal highlighted.

‘Cuba’s emergency rollout of two homegrown vaccines last month has awed the world. (…) The achievement is all the more significant when we consider the enormous difficulties caused by the US blockade which restricts access to high-technology equipment, state-of-the-art technologies and good-quality raw materials and reagents.’

Cuba continues the model of sharing technology and technical know-how for its scientific research with other countries, including several developing countries, the site added.

Peoples Dispatch also recalled that a 2015 report by WHO and European Commission ‘hailed’ the Cuban model.

The article noted that ‘Cuba has become a global leader in the South-South transfer of technology, helping low-income countries develop their own domestic biotech capabilities, providing technical training, and facilitating access to low-cost lifesaving drugs to combat diseases such as meningitis B and hepatitis B.’

‘For the COVID-19 vaccines, (Cuba) is working closely with the other two victims of the US blockade — Venezuela and Iran – where phase-3 clinical trials for Soberana 02 are underway. There is a high probability that these countries will be able to produce the vaccine locally.’

‘Other Caribbean and Latin American countries have also shown interest in working with Cuba on vaccine research and development,’ which have among their advantages that they can be stored in a temperature range of two to eight degrees Celsius.

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