Help Vaccinate Cuba, so Cuba Can Continue to Help Others

“Vacuna Yoa” by Yoamaris Neptuno Dominguez, used with permission.

By Leni Villagomez Reeves
Co-chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Committee

June 2021

There is a worldwide shortage of syringes, and the price has increased tenfold over the past months. The United States blockade has made Cuba’s access to syringes even more difficult. Despite all these challenges, Cuba has produced five vaccines that they intend to use to vaccinate their own population and to share with the world.

What We Can Do
If you would like to show appreciation to Cuba for the help and solidarity they have given to so many people in so many places around the world, or if you would like to help the people of Cuba just because you are a kind and helpful person, please donate to the campaign to send syringes to Cuba. 

Checks payable to Global Health Partners (with “syringes” in the memo) can be sent to:
Global Health Partners
39 Broadway, Suite 1540
New York, NY 10006
Or go to the website to donate or pledge: www.ghpartners.org 

Why Donate?

Cuba has produced five anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, two of which are near the end of phase III clinical trials, the last step before approval. Cuba has about 11.3 million people, but they are producing 100 million doses of vaccine. They have already committed to share vaccine with other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and elsewhere in the world.  

We are seeing hope in vaccines that can protect us from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, at least from the current strains. But a pandemic is by nature global, and no one is safe until everyone is safe. Vaccine equity in the United States is important, and vaccine protection for the world is essential. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out with regard to vaccine disparities that the world was on the “brink of a catastrophic moral failure.” In addition to being a moral failure, this will cause a failure to control the pandemic for everyone. We already see virus variants impairing vaccine efficacy, so it is essential to have everyone vaccinated at the earliest point in time.

So it is apparently up to Cuba to globalize solidarity, and Cuba is uniquely qualified to do this. Cuba has been training physicians from other countries at the Latin American School of Medicine – over 30,000 so far, including about 200 from the US. These students return to their home countries as doctors to serve underserved populations – it’s like a reverse brain drain!

Cuba has also been sending international medical brigades to countries overwhelmed by the pandemic, with 52 international medical brigades serving in 33 countries during the past year alone.

Help End the US Blockade

Cuba is struggling against more than the pandemic. Even as they share medical personnel and expertise with the world and prepare vaccines for international use, they have to deal with the difficulties of the US blockade, which impairs their access to financing, equipment, and supplies. Many additional blockade measures were actually imposed during the past year. Any embargos, sanctions, and blockades that impede Cuba’s ability to produce vaccines harm not only Cuba but the world.

We should be encouraging medical, clinical, and scientific collaboration worldwide, including with Cuba.

It is way past time already to end all US economic and travel sanctions against Cuba. There’s a Senate bill about this: S.249 — The U.S.-Cuba Trade Act of 2021. Please let your senators know you would like them to co-sponsor and support this bill.
 
There is also a less comprehensive but worthwhile bill sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Jerry Moran to lift travel and trade restrictions with Cuba. The Freedom to Export to Cuba Act of 2021 is likely to win support from farm and business groups interested in trade and export opportunities.

The extraterritorial nature of the blockade, which has included attempts to stop other countries from accepting Cuban medical brigades and assistance, and all ongoing measures that prevent Cuba from accessing and importing medical equipment and supplies to confront COVID-19, are clearly morally repugnant and indefensible.

It is time to cooperate for the health of the world.