Cuba’s self-reliance is born of necessity.
Relatively poor, especially after a year in which its tourist industry has been battered by the pandemic, and heavily isolated by US sanctions, the country would have struggled to secure supplies of the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines in particular.
Rather than join Covax Cuba has used its decades-long expertise in biotechnology to develop and produce its own
.
By the end of this year, there’s no doubt the population [of Cuba] will be vaccinated – the first in Latin America and the Caribbean
Dr Helen Yaffe, University of Glasgow
“It’s partly or largely the result of a strategic development policy to invest in science and technology for social development,” said
hope to researchers who
struggled for years to produce treatments that could save millions of lives.
Vaccines take several forms, with some made from bacterial or viral particles treated to prevent virulence, while others consist of inactivated or weaker virus particles.
Yet more are made from components of the pathogen or, like the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, consist of viral vectors that deliver genetic material into the cells of recipients.
Two of the earliest approved and most effective vaccines against coronavirus, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are based on mRNA technology.
Unlike other kinds of vaccines, which give the body a weakened or inactive virus to cause the production of antibodies, mRNA vaccines make cells produce a protein that starts an immune response.
The global race to produce coronavirus vaccines, in particular the development of messenger RNA or mRNA technology, has given hope to researchers who have struggled for years to produce shots that could save millions of lives.
Vaccines take several forms, with some made from bacterial or viral particles treated to prevent virulence, while others consist of inactivated or weaker virus particles.
Yet more are made from components of the pathogen or, like the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, consist of viral vectors that deliver genetic material into the cells of recipients.
Two of the earliest-approved and most effective vaccines against coronavirus, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are based on mRNA technology.