HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 12 (ACN) The strategic response of the Revolutionary Government and its scientists to the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage in the consultative work of the Cuban Academy of Sciences (ACC) in 2021.
According to ACC president Luis Velázquez Pérez, Doctor of Medicine and 2nd Degree Specialist in Physiology, a number of research-oriented actions were particularly important, including protocols for preventive and other treatments for symptomatic patients that contributed to their swift and favorable evolution, which explains the country’s low COVID-related mortality rate.
“Moreover, there were clinical, molecular and epidemiological studies with the participation of specialists from ministries, universities, research centers and the ACC itself that made it possible to tackle the pandemic,” he added. COVID-19
“These studies undertaken by centers under the Business Group of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries (BioCubaFarma) were the key to Cuba’s first vaccine candidate Soberana 01, the first to be authorized for use in Latin America and the Caribbean. This not only brings hopes to our nation, it also reveals the way Cuban science has managed to overcome the blockade that the U.S. has kept in place for more than 60 years,” he stressed, “as much as it does the dedication, devotion and commitment of the Cuban scientists, who have been engaged all along in a hard battle against this pandemic.”
Velázquez Pérez pointed out that now is the time to build bridges between nations and develop world integration to defeat this terrible disease that has claimed so many lives everywhere.
“Cuba has shown that it is possible to move forward, being more supportive and overcoming the criminal U.S. economic, financial and commercial blockade and its highly harmful effects on the Cuban population,” he said.
Cuban vaccine Abdala produces strong immune response in children and adolescents
Last November, an article published by Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, highlighted the success of Cuba’s strategy to develop its own COVID-19 vaccines and recognized that the U.S. Cuba policy prevents the Island from importing American products.
Cuba is working on specific vaccines for the new COVID-19 strain Omicron, BioCubaFarma president Eduardo Martínez Díaz announced on Twitter.
