Cuba starts to reopen economy as COVID-19 vaccine campaign races ahead

HAVANA, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Cuba is allowing a staggered opening from Friday of restaurants, shopping centers and beaches in provinces that have lowered coronavirus cases even as it battles some of the highest nationwide rates of infection per capita worldwide. The easing of lockdown restrictions coincides with preparations by the cash-strapped Caribbean island nation for its tourist high season, which it hopes will bring much-needed dollars to palliate a dire economic crisis.

The government has already announced it will allow more flights and accept COVID-19 vaccination certificates for inbound travelers in lieu of a PCR test from November. “In recent days we have determined the conditions are there to gradually reopen many of these in-person services,” said Interior Commerce Minister Betsy Diaz. Health officials said coronavirus infections started falling in September from their peak over the summer months as they raced to vaccinate more than 90% of the population by mid November with their home-grown COVID-19 vaccines. They have already vaccinated 86.5 % of the 2.2 million inhabitants in Havana, where they started the campaign. Authorities have selected 533 businesses that may now open to in-person service in the capital including 315 restaurants. Until now eateries had only been allowed to do delivery. Earlier this month Cuba asked the World Health Organization to start the evaluation process toward officially recognizing its vaccines, which would be a major recognition given data from late phase trials has not yet been published in peer reviewed journals.

Yet in the near term, the virus is overwhelming healthcare facilities in provinces that started their vaccination campaigns after Havana, despite the return of hundreds of doctors from missions abroad to reinforce staffing.On top of the pandemic-induced crisis, Cuba is dealing with shortages of medicines in an economy struggling with a decline in aid from ally Venezuela, a tightening of decades-old U.S. sanctions and the reduction of tourism revenue. NN: For all intents and purposes Cuban cigars have sold out in Europe. and England. I know Cuba, it is a closed commie dictatorship. But they sure have hot Latino women and make the best cigars in the world. Nothing has changed in how they grow the tobacco or roll the cigars in hundreds of years. When you go to the factory their is not a machine to be seen. Hundreds of workers all sitting in rows at tables. see the video below. True information about Cuba is rare. Reality Cuban has been shut down because of the covid19 plague. The variants and like the US they failed to give the booster shot quick enough. All of Cuba’s vaccine candidates—Abdala, Soberana 1, Soberana 2, Soberana Plus, and Mambisa, are subunit protein vaccines, like the Novavax vaccine. Crucially, the vaccines do not require extreme refrigeration, are cheap to produce, and are easy for the country to manufacture at scale. They are made by fermentation in mammalian cells, a process Cuba already uses for monoclonal antibodies. The island’s national regulatory agency approved the Abdala vaccine on 9 July, making Cuba the first Latin American country to develop a successful covid-19 vaccine. The Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices reports that Abdala is 92% efficacious after three doses. Moreover, three other vaccine candidates are still in the pipeline, including Soberana 2, which the agency says is 91% effective when combined with a booster vaccine called Soberana Plus. Those too are expected to receive regulatory approval in the coming weeks.