Carolyn Cooper | Banking on Cuba’s coronavirus vaccines

The scramble for COVID-19 vaccines has exposed yet again the gross inequities across the globe. Rich countries have fast-forwarded to the head of the line. Poor countries like Jamaica will have to wait for a relatively long time to get vaccines. After all, pharmaceutical companies are not in the business of charity. What matters is profit. In these circumstances, the headline of a Gleaner report published on December 4 gave what appeared to be surprisingly good news: ‘Jamaica Gets Big COVID-19 Vaccine Discount, One Million Vials Expected By March’.

Negotiations were made through the COVAX facility for the procurement of vaccines, which was intended to level the playing field, ensuring access for poor countries. But the game is not being played fairly. A BBC news story published on December 19 reports the following:

“According to researchers at Duke University, which is keeping track of deals between governments and vaccine companies, a handful of countries have secured more supply than their populations actually need. Canada has secured enough vaccines to vaccinate its entire population five times.”

By contrast, the case of South Africa is alarming. An article published there in the City Press newspaper on December 20 confirms that only three per cent of the population will be covered when the vaccine eventually becomes available in the second quarter of 2021. Why does the COVAX facility appear to be failing some countries? The Duke University researchers confirm that countries like Canada “took a risk in buying vaccines before they proved to be effective and in turn helped to finance their development”. Without the power to invest, poor countries have to take what we can get.

WORLD-LEADING CUBAN BIOTECH

Instead of depending solely on the COVAX facility, our government could have begun negotiations a long time ago with Cuba to acquire their vaccines that are now under review by the World Health Organization (WHO). But, according to a Gleaner report published last Sunday, “Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the Cuban vaccine was not an option for Jamaica currently”.

The minister explained that the vaccines Jamaica will get “would include Moderna, not Pfizer or the Cuban vaccines. The situation could change over time, but this is the current status and is based on our dependence on a few factors, including WHO to validate the vaccine trials, ensuring we get access to vaccine when available, and support on pricing”. The operative word is, clearly, ‘dependence’. And, regrettably, we are not depending on expertise within the region.

The Latin America and Caribbean Centre at The London School of Economics hosts a blog which posted an informative article on March 18, 2020: ‘Cuba and coronavirus: how Cuban biotech came to combat COVID-19’. The author, Helen Yaffe, a lecturer in economic and social history at the University of Glasgow, confirms the longevity of Cuba’s biotechnology industry: “Cuba first developed and used interferons to arrest a deadly outbreak of the dengue virus in 1981, and that experience catalysed the development of the island’s now world-leading biotech industry.”

SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS

I have absolute confidence in Cuba’s biotechnology expertise. For example, Cuban scientists are famous for having developed an effective treatment for vitiligo. Everywhere in the world I’ve travelled, I’ve told people with the disease about the Cuban cure. No Jehovah’s Witness could match my zeal at spreading the good news.

About five years ago, I had my own brush with vitiligo. Two relatively small spots appeared on my face. I could have lived with them if they had not chosen to prims up at both corners of my mouth. The larger one looked like a bit of stray food. I don’t normally wear make-up, except for lipstick. But I had to cover up the spot. And I immediately began making plans to go to Cuba.

Fortunately, one blessed Sabbath morning, I ran into a friend at Papine Market who has vitiligo. I told her my tale of woe and she gave me some very good news. Lasco was now importing the drug for vitiligo. Bright and early Monday morning, I called Lasco’s pharmaceutical division to confirm that they did have the product in stock. The next step was to get a prescription.

I selected a dermatologist from the Yellow Pages who advertised his “treatment of vitiligo and skin discolouration”. On my first visit, he confirmed that I did have vitiligo and immediately prescribed steroids. I patiently explained that I wanted to try the vitiligo treatment from Cuba and informed him that the drug was available locally. He reluctantly prescribed it.

A month later, the dermatologist was shocked that the spots had disappeared. He confessed that about two decades earlier he had planned to go to Cuba to investigate their treatment of the disease. But he had not made it. And he resolved to try the drug with his patients. I don’t know if he ever followed up. It’s so much easier to use the conventional medical treatments from the so-called ‘developed’ world.

The moral of the story is that I would happily take a COVID-19 vaccine from Cuba, even if it’s not approved by the WHO. Politics plays such a huge role in the global pharmaceutical industry, often overriding science. I hope the Government of Jamaica is not making the same mistake as my dermatologist: disregarding Cuban expertise.

At present, the vaccine allowance we are supposed to receive in March will cover only 16 per cent of our population. Who knows if that figure will change? South Africa had been expecting to vaccinate 20 per cent of its population in the first round. We cannot afford to settle for the limited supply the COVAX facility will allow us when we might be able to get all that we need from Cuba. Lingering cold-war politics should not trump commonsense.

- Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a specialist on culture and development. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com.