Pfizer and the Sovereign: Cuba’s COVID19 vaccine offers an interesting counterpoint to the Pfizer roll-out in the US

As of this writing, there are six approved vaccines and over 50 candidates in development. In the UK, the NHS recently started administering the Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccine, and the US followed suit one week later. COVID19 vaccine development has reinvigorated a certain type of vaccine nationalism not seen for decades. Each vaccine or candidate gets a particular pedigree, narrative and aura of trustworthiness according to its origins. The vaccines and candidates are a mix of private-sector developed or public/private partnership, with only a few candidates from universities or the public sector (WHO, 2020). In Cuba’s state-run socialist biopharmaceutical system, their new COVID19 vaccine, called Soberana or “The Sovereign,” is effortlessly enfolded into a long-standing national narrative of vaccine prowess.

Mental Health and COVID-19

Dr. Valda Henry Mental Health is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a “State of mental well-being in which people cope well with the many stresses of life, can realise their own potential, can function productively and fruitfully, and are able to contribute to their communities.”[1]  The United Nations warns that the coronavirus …

Cuba Develops Effective Peptide Against COVID-19

Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) laboratories, La Habana, Cuba. | Photo: Twitter/@bohemiaonline This protein increases its concentration during viral infections and inflammatory processes. Cuba’s Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) developed the CIGB-258, a new protein effective in Covid-19 treatment. “It is an immunomodulatory peptide, derived from the cellular stress response protein, …

The case of Remdesivir

How an unproven and potentially dangerous Covid19 drug treatment could be unleashed on the Caribbean On 12 May the US Big Pharma corporation, Gilead Sciences Inc. announced that it had signed a licensing agreement with a number of drug manufacturers to produce the drug Remdesivir as a treatment for Covid 19 in what it described …

Lockdown Without Palliative Amount To Hunger, WHO Tells Poor Countries

By Joel Ajayi, aljazirahnews.com The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised the governments of developing countries imposing lockdown restrictions to their citizens to provide palliatives for their citizens to enable them to comply.  WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus,  stated this on Monday  at a press briefing in Geneva saying that ‘How do you survive on lockdown …