Cuba develops COVID-19 vaccines, takes socialist approach

 This article talks about how Cuba is approaching vaccination from a socialist point of view. Cuba is a country that has struggled for years under United States sanctions, yet has managed to produce one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The will frequently send doctors to other countries for humanitarian aid and it is rumored that they have even cured lung cancer (smoke as many Cuban cigars as you want). With this in mind, it is no surprise that they have handled the COVID pandemic exceptionally well and developed their own COVID vaccine, two in fact. The only downside of being competent in this crisis is that they actually lack enough infected people to test the vaccine, for that they will be testing the vaccine in Iran, another country struggling under United States sanctions.

 The article also talks about how the Cuban government will be distributing the vaccine world wide. In the case of the United States vaccine, it is aimed to make a profit, going to only those that can afford it. It will likely be many months, if not years, for many poorer developing countries to get the American vaccines. This is not the case for the Cubans' vaccines, they are planning on sending out 70 million of their remaining doses to Vietnam, Iran, Pakistan, India, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. The Cuban government is ran under a Marxist-Leninist model, meaning that they work to both fight imperialism and help the greatest number of people possible. In the COVID-19 pandemic, it is admirable to see a country not afraid to lose money if it means saving lives.

Luke Kwiatkowski

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/cuba-develops-covid-19-vaccines-takes-socialist-approach/