On January 25, The Progressive International will host a special briefing live from Havana with Cuba’s leading scientists, government ministers and public health officials, as part of its Union for Vaccine Internationalism.
2022 began with a tsunami of new covid-19 cases hitting the world, according to the World Health Organization. In the last week alone, more than 18 million cases have been registered, a record number since the pandemic began two years ago. In the first 10 days of January, almost 60,000 deaths from covid-19 have been recorded worldwide, although the total number of deaths is much higher than what official statistics describe.
According to reports, the Omicron variant has less serious implications among vaccinated patients. But the world remains dangerously undervaccinated: 92 of the WHO’s member countries missed the 2021 target of 40 percent vaccination; at the current rate of deployment, 109 of them will not reach their 2022 targets before July.
These statistics tell the story of persistent vaccine apartheid. Across the EU, 80% of all adults have been fully vaccinated against covid-19. Meanwhile, only 9.5% of people in low-income countries have received a single dose. Omicron is a death sentence for thousands of people in these countries – and as the virus moves through the Global South, new variants will emerge that may be less “gentle” for vaccinated populations in the North.
But nevertheless, the governments of these Northern countries refuse to plan for global vaccination, or even to keep their own promises. By the end of last year, they had delivered only 14% of the vaccine doses they had promised to the poorest countries through COVAX, the UN’s vaccine delivery initiative. Big pharmaceutical companies are almost exclusively focused on producing boosters for the world’s rich countries, creating a deficit of 3 billion doses in the first quarter of this year.
President Joe Biden could easily help cover this shortfall by forcing US pharmaceutical companies to share their vaccine technology with poorer nations.but has so far refused to do so. A new production center in Africa – where only 3% of people are vaccinated – is trying to replicate Moderna’s vaccine. But without help from Moderna, or executive action from Joe Biden, production could take more than a year to get started.
In the midst of this crisis of global solidarity, Cuba has emerged as a powerful engine of vaccine internationalism. The island nation has not only successfully developed two Covid-19 vaccines with 90% efficacy and vaccinated more than 90% of its population with at least one dose of its local vaccine, but has also offered its technology of vaccines to the world. We are not a multinational in which profitability is the main reason for existence, said Vicente Vérez Bencomo, from the Finlay Vaccine Institute of Cuba. For us, it’s about getting healthy.
However, the United States and its allies continue to oppress and exclude Cuba from the global health system. The US blockade forced a syringe shortage on the island that jeopardized its vaccine development and hampered mass production. American medical journals marginalize scientific results that come from poor countries, according to Verez Bencomo. Meanwhile, the WHO refuses to accredit Cuban vaccines, despite the approval of regulators from countries such as Argentina and Mexico.
That is why the Progressive International sends a delegation to Havana: to combat disinformation, defend Cuban sovereignty and help vaccinate the world.
LAST MINUTE: The Dutch multinational bank @ingnl has blocked all donations to the delegation of the @ProgIntl_ES to support the internationalism of vaccines in Cuba, submitting to the illegal US embargo: https://t.co/g1b8k8B6az pic.twitter.com/vOECsnw0Z3
— Progressive International (@ProgIntl_ES) January 18, 2022
Bringing together delegates from the Union for Vaccine Internationalism, founded in June 2021 to fight the emerging apartheid, On January 25, the Progressive International will convene Cuban scientists and government representatives to address the international press and members of the scientific community in a presentation of the Cuban vaccine.
The objectives of the presentation are both local and global. Highlighting the promise of the Cuban vaccine and the dangers of the US embargo against it, This presentation aims to establish connections between the public biotech sector in Cuba and the manufacturers that could produce the vaccine and help the Cuban government recover the costs of its development.
In the process, the presentation aims to set an example of international solidarity in the face of the current global health crisis, furthering the cause of vaccine internationalism around the world.
ANNOUNCEMENT: The Progressive International is sending a delegation to Havana to help vaccinate the world. We need your help to get there.https://t.co/1raw1stdiG
– Progressive International (@ProgIntl) January 17, 2022
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