Cuba’s Ambassador to China says Caribbean island ready to make its vaccines public domain

Cuba is ready to join the COVAX vaccine-sharing mechanism led by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The declaration was made by Cuba’s Ambassador to China, Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernandez, in answering questions about whether his country is ready to join the COVAX Facility. In making the disclosure, Ambassador Pereira Hernandez declared, “Yes, we are ready. Cuba is ready to make our vaccines public domain, as Russia, China and other countries do.”

He states that, “joining COVAX is a definite process, first, we need to obtain WHO approval, we prepare all documents and data on clinical trials in order to receive its confirmation.”

The Cuban diplomat reported that his island had already developed five coronavirus vaccines, two of which had completed clinical trials, adding that their results will be published in the near future.

“This means that we will be able to start mass immunization of the population in the coming days. We hope that six million [out of some 11 million] Cuban citizens will be vaccinated by August, and we hope to vaccinate the entire population by the end of the year,” Pereira Hernandez said.

Additionally, the ambassador said that Cuba expressed readiness to export coronavirus vaccines after their approval by the national regulator. More than 10 countries have already sent requests to obtain the vaccines, he noted.

US blockade hindering vaccine development

The Cuban foreign minister says the US blockade against his country has hindered the development and production of domestically-manufactured vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic.

Bruno Rodriguez made the comments in a post on his Twitter page on Friday, adding that the commercial and financial persecution by the US administration against Cuban companies, counterparts and third parties was delaying the purchase of supplies needed to rein in the deadly pathogen.

The Business Group of the Cuban Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries also recently condemned the effects of Washington’s policy toward Havana that prevented the purchase of resources to guarantee medicines for the national health system.

The group mentioned, among other obstacles, the increase in the cost of materials essential for the development of vaccine and said, “the usual suppliers refused to supply them for fear of the impact of the brutal blockade policy on their companies.”

Moreover, Cuba’s Foreign Trade and Investment Minister, Rodrigo Malmierca reiterated on Friday his rejection of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against the Caribbean nation that has been extended even in COVID-19 times. B

ack in January, Iran and Cuba signed an agreement to cooperate in the coronavirus vaccine project with the use of a technology that will be transferred to Iran by the Cuban government.