In a report published on the site Scidev.net, a city-based specialized in bringing science to development through news and analysis, the authors highlight how this strategy of vaccination with safe and effective immunogens could face situations of this type in environments with resource-poor, low-income countries, and in the developing world.

At the same time, they demand the reduction of the barriers that block global access to biotechnological innovations from that country.

Last June, the team of US researchers, together with colleagues from Africa and the Caribbean, made an official visit to Cuba, the first high-level visit in five years, to exchange with colleagues from the island on the production of vaccines against covid-19 from the country.

The delegation was led by co-chair Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Along with the scientist came Cristina Rabadán-Diehl, PharmD, PhD, MPH, who for 25 years led international work at the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services, before becoming Director Westat Clinical Trials Associate.

For Osterholm, what he learned about Cuba’s extraordinary work with the covid-19 vaccine made it clear that it can be an important actor in increasing global access to life-saving advances.

He considered that although the policies are complex, “they must face the barriers that prevent their impressive group of scientists and public health experts from doing it.”

The report further explains that the purpose of the fact-finding mission was threefold: first, to learn how and why a small country of some 11 million people, and facing considerable economic hardship, had developed, manufactured, and deployed its own vaccines, It was shown to be more than 95% effective in preventing disease, severity, and death.

Second, understand the launch of the vaccine in Cuba, strategy and preliminary results and third, explore Cuba’s approach to science in the context of public health.

The vaccine development effort and the immunization model could reveal opportunities to reduce global inequalities in access to vaccines and other health innovations, the scientists insist in their study.

They also highlight that the delegation was aware of predictions that the world is dangerously close to the next pandemic, with cross-zoonotic infections, which already account for 75% of emerging infectious diseases, on the rise amid climate change.

They were also alarmed by the unequal access to vaccines that has prolonged the pandemic so far, and how it highlights a broader failure in the current surge in biomedical innovation to reach billions of people in low- and low-middle-income countries.

The visit to Havana was organized by Medicc (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba), a US-based non-profit organization that promotes health-related dialogue and collaboration.

Since 1997, Medicc has facilitated exchanges between Cuban and US health professionals, academics, policymakers, foundations, students, and leaders of medically underserved communities.

(With information from PL)

Along this path, this Tuesday afternoon two exchanges were held between the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with experts and scientists for health issues, and the members of the Temporary Group of I work for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and dengue.

At the center of the analyzes of both meetings was the evaluation of the behavior of the dengue and COVID-19 epidemics in the country, two aspects that do not allow carelessness in their confrontation.

Dengue in October: Maintain surveillance and vector control
October —assert the specialists— is confirmed in Cuba as a month in which the infestation rates of the Aedes aegypti mosquito tend to increase and, therefore, also the incidence of dengue among the Cuban population.

Such reflections were shared this Tuesday during President Díaz-Canel’s meeting with experts and scientists for health issues, in which Dr. Francisco Durán García, director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, drew attention to the effects of Hurricane Ian in the epidemiological situation of the country and the importance of maintaining and intensifying vector control actions.

To the extent that the sanitation work progresses —he reflected— we will be in better conditions to contain the increase in the infestation, which is ultimately what is leading us to still have somewhat high incidence rates of suspected cases.

In support of his assessments, he commented on the experience of health intervention that is currently being carried out in the province of Mayabeque, specifically in the municipality of Batabanó, in the community of Surgidero, where the effects associated with Hurricane Ian made the epidemiological situation.

Even though there the cases with febrile syndrome that are being seen in the demand for care have not decreased, it is indisputable that the rates of infestation are improving discreetly, he considered.

Precisely in the municipality of Batabanó, dengue transmission was opened during the last week, the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Health, Tania Margarita Cruz Hernández, would explain shortly after, at the Temporary Working Group meeting for the prevention and control of COVID-19. 19 and dengue. The epidemiological control and surveillance actions implemented there have been essential to avoid a much more complex scenario.

Reporting on the behavior of the disease in the country over the course of the last week, Cruz Hernández specified that dengue transmission is maintained in the 15 provinces, as well as in 44 municipalities and 62 health areas. As a favorable element, she highlighted that the incidence rate of suspected cases decreased by 32.7% compared to the same preceding period.

The provinces with rates of suspected cases above the national average are Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Camagüey, Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara and Mayabeque.

In this sense, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party insisted on the priority with which work must be done throughout the country in the identification of foci in order to act against the proliferation of the mosquito.

Without trusting ourselves before covid-19
September has been the best month of this year in terms of the incidence of COVID-19 in Cuba, assured Dr. Raúl Guinovart Díaz, dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing of the University of Havana, when sharing together to experts and scientists for health issues, the usual forecasts on the behavior of the epidemic.

The forecasts, he assessed, are quite favorable for all the provinces, and it is expected that the trend towards control will continue throughout the national territory.

The figures shared shortly after, at the meeting of the Temporary Working Group for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and dengue, by the First Vice Minister of Public Health, although they do not constitute any reason to neglect the epidemiological surveillance actions associated with the disease, show the favorable situation that is manifested throughout the country.

Let us take some examples as a basis for this certainty: at the end of the last week, ending on October 1, the diagnosis of positive cases decreased by 53.1% compared to the same previous period; there were eight weeks in which a decrease in infections was confirmed; Meanwhile, for six consecutive weeks, the death of no Cuban as a result of COVID-19 has been regretted.

Given this favorable scenario, an evident example of how much work has been done in Cuba to contain the epidemic and minimize its damage to the population, the President of the Republic insisted that we cannot trust each other, and we must continue to monitor and observe the behavior of the disease. in order to maintain the control that has been achieved over it.

Intertwine strategies to advance health goals
Precisely about the many and diverse actions that are promoted and implemented by the Ministry of Public Health to comply with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and their articulation with the 2030 National Economic and Social Development Plan in the post-COVID-19 context, he detailed also during the working day Ileana Morales Suárez, director of Science and Technological Innovation of the Ministry of Public Health.

The COVID-19 epidemic, she assured, has not been a reason to neglect these lines of work, which are of vital importance to guarantee a better quality of life for our population. When the world set goal 3, which is to “guarantee a healthy life and promote the well-being of all”, multiple strategies had already been outlined in our country to achieve it, recalled Morales Suárez.

In an inclusive manner, she detailed, we have managed to align the Sustainable Development Goals with the National Plan for Economic and Social Development and that has led us to a more comprehensive strategy for compliance.

As an unquestionable strength to advance in these purposes, he highlighted, among others, all the Health structures that exist throughout the country, such as the clinics; the Family Physician Program; the universities of Medical Sciences; almost half a million health workers; cooperation links with other organizations, and a healthcare and scientific network.

Cuba, like the rest of the countries in the world, faces great health challenges. More than six decades of Revolution have paved the way so that facing them is not a matter of one day or carrying out campaigns, but rather a supreme purpose on the road to protecting the health of its people.

(By: Yaima Puig Meneses)

Party First Secretary and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez highlighted the completed administration of a third and final dose of candidate vaccine Abdala (CIGB-66), as part of phase III clinical trials in Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Bayamo, which began March 22.

“Our candidate vaccine Abdala is approaching the goal… 48,290 volunteers have received three doses, with very few adverse side effects. We are advancing with firm steps toward vaccination of the entire country,” he tweeted.

According to experts with the state enterprise group BioCubaFarma, adherence to the protocol was over 97%, reflecting an adequate safety level for CIGB-66 and the commitment to the investigation of the majority of volunteers selected.

Referring to the vaccine’s efficacy, PhD Verena Muzio, director of the clinical research at the CIGB, reported that the evaluation has begun of this variable, the principal interest of the trials, on the basis of ongoing observation of subjects, to detect those who develop SARS-COV-2 infections and exhibit symptoms.

She clarified that the date when findings are published regarding the vaccine’s effectiveness cannot be pre-determined, since this depends on how quickly positive cases of COVID-19 emerge following administration of the third dose.

With respect to studies of Abdala in the pediatric population, Dr. Muzio stated that researchers are in the final stages of designing clinical trials for the 18 and under age group, which will be submitted for approval to the State Center for Control of Medications, Medical Equipment and Devices (Cecmed), and should begin within a short period of time.

Production of the Abdala candidate vaccine is being undertaken by AICA Laboratories, in Havana.

April leaves record numbers of infections and deaths

Between January and April this year, far from decreasing, the nation’s monthly average of new cases and, even sadder, that of patient deaths as a result of COVID-19, increased dramatically.

Dr. Francisco Durán García, nation director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), reported during a press conference that in the fourth month of the year, 31,346 infections were reported, 5,660 more than in March, with an average of 1,044 new cases a day, more than 1000 on the majority of days

In April, with 229 deaths as a result of complications associated with the illness, COVID-19 lethality and mortality rates increased significantly, reaching double the previous record, established in February with 108 deaths.

During the month, 4,449 children, adolescents and youth, 18 years of age and under, were treated for SARS-COV-2 infections, with an average of 148 new cases a day in this age group, a figure that speaks to the extraordinary importance of strictly adhering to precautionary measures and social distancing.

(Taken from Granma)