My country has defeated covid-19. But we remain cautious.

Jun 1, 2022. No. 260

Two days ago in the official media of my country, it was reported that the use of a face mask was no longer necessary to leave the house. Use is only recommended in crowded public places and mandatory in medical consultations. It is up to you if you need to use it or not.

All this is thanks to Cuban vaccines, developed by our scientists. 5 vaccine candidates were made and 3 of them have been approved for emergency cases.

It was also explained that several factors affect this inequity. “There are countries that have vaccines, but they do not have the personnel for the vaccination process. There are also anti-vaccine movements, countries that do not have the resources to buy them and others that have vaccinated the same person many times, and others not once.

More than 85% of the population fully vaccinated is only reached by 14 countries, including Cuba. Likewise, with less than 50% there are 90 countries and less than 10%, 10 nations, most of them from the African continent.

Cuba remains well above the list of countries with the highest number of doses of anticovid-19 vaccine administered in the last year.

Our country has administered more than 300 vaccines for every 100 people, data that places it at the forefront of the world.

With regard to booster doses, Cuba is among the first four countries in the world and the second booster dose will begin to be administered to all people over 50 years of age, and as progress is made, the rest of the ages will follow.

As the number of vaccinated has increased, the death toll has decreased. “There are no critics, we lowered active cases from 200 and lethality from 0.1 this month.”

The omicron wave in Cuba was 10 times smaller than the omicron wave in the world, said the Minister of Public Health.

"When we talk about 96.7% of the vaccinable population, we are talking about an element that today leads us to an obvious scenario of control of the epidemic."

The wisdom of starting the health intervention with Cuban immunogens, even though the regulatory authority had not issued the authorization for emergency use, since there was evidence of their safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy.

"It was a daring decision but based on science," referring to the country's experience in the development and production of vaccines.

Of the Cuban immunization program that protects against 13 diseases with 11 vaccines, eight are nationally produced.

“The variants of the virus that were circulating at that time, beta and delta, were leading us to a very complex situation. Being able to vaccinate those three million people during the months of May, June, and July, which was when the emergency authorization was obtained, led us to a very different scenario, and the results began to be seen in the month of September when The cases of the disease began to decrease considerably.

"Results that have been maintained, except for the peak produced this year by omicron -the most transmissible variant-, but although the number of infections increased, this did not happen with the incidence of serious, critical or deceased cases."

Today we do not have any critical cases in the country. “There are those who have questioned, for example, the number of samples that are carried out today, because it is smaller. Epidemics have a fact that is undeniable and cannot be concealed, which are health services, emergency services, and intensive care. It is true that there is a group of people in which the disease has been circulating, but with the results, we are seeking with immunization: that it be a respiratory disease that does not progress to serious illness, that was the meaning and what the world".

Due to this, several measures to confront covid-19 were updated that will come into force as of tomorrow, May 31.

• The mandatory use of the mask is eliminated for all social activities, except in medical consultations and hospitalization services that require it and areas with restrictions during focus controls. The use of masks is also mandatory for people with respiratory symptoms.

• It is important that people who are vulnerable due to their ailments continue to use the mask as a protection measure, not only against covid-19.

• We recommend its use in scenarios with an agglomeration of people, such as urban buses and other spaces where it is not possible to maintain adequate physical distance.

Even though the country has decided to suspend the mandatory use of masks, "protection against certain scenarios now rests with individual responsibility."