Billboard in Havana, Cuba addresses coronavirus outbreak there.
According to a widely-circulated brochure, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has advised his followers NOT to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for various reasons. He notes at the close of the brochure that Cuba and other countries will have better means to combat the coronavirus.
The Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan Nation of Islam
The articles below show that Cuba IS vaccinating its people with their own experimental vaccines. However, the articles also note that Cuba HAD to turn to its own resources because the U.S. and other countries will not provide vaccines produced in the U.S. for distribution to the Cuban people.
Michigan now has the second worst record of new coronavirus cases in the country. States across the U.S. are reporting similar new waves. There is not time for people in the U.S. to wait for U.S.-Cuba relations to improve before being vaccinated. More deaths and grave illnesses are in store immediately if people here refuse available vaccines.
After reading numerous research articles on the vaccines, VOD’s editor and staff have all received COVID-19 vaccines here in Detroit. We suggest that our readers weigh their options very seriously.
The Final Call’s most recent article on the matter is at Reports of deaths after Covid vaccines up by 259 in one week, CDC data show – Final Call News. VOD notes that the CDC has repeatedly stated that the three vaccines in the U.S. are safe and effective. It has reported that deaths after receiving the vaccines have been due to a variety of reasons, including the health of the individuals, not necessarily due to vaccine reactions.
Also go to today’s New York Times article stating that “far-right” groups including QAnon are trying to undermine the vaccine roll-out in the U.S. citing the same report from the CDC. “Far-Right Extremists Move From ‘Stop the Steal’ to Stop the Vaccine” at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Far-Right-Extremists-Move-From-‘Stop-the-Steal’-to-Stop-the-Vaccine-The-New-York-Times.pdf
QAnon protests COVID-19 and flu vaccines.
CUBA TO ADMINISTER COVID-19 EXPERIMENTAL VACCINES TO NEARLY ALL HAVANA RESIDENTS
March 24, 2021, 10:40 AM EDT / Updated March 24, 2021, 11:52 AM EDT
By Reuters
This month Cuba began late phase trials of two of their five experimental shots, Soberana 2 and Abdala. If successful, they’d be Latin America’s first homegrown vaccines.
Dr, Ileana Morales Suarez, Cuban Health Ministry
HAVANA — Cuba will administer experimental Covid-19 shots to nearly the entire population of the capital Havana by May as health authorities carry out massive interventional studies and late stage trials, officials said on Tuesday.
Cuba, which has a long history of developing and exporting vaccines, this month began late phase trials of two of its five experimental shots, Soberana 2 and Abdala, which will be Latin America’s first homegrown COVID-19 vaccines if they prove successful.
Ileana Morales, the health ministry’s director of science and technological innovation, said on a roundtable broadcast on state television that authorities would conduct an intervention study in 1.7 million people in Havana by May.
That comes on top of one it has already started for 150,000 frontline workers in the city, which is estimated to have 2.1 million inhabitants.
Cuba’s capital is at the centre of its worst coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic, registering 292 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared with a nationwide average of 103.5, Deputy Health Minister Carilda Peña said.
Authorities could seek approval for emergency use of Abdala and Soberana 2, which both target the spike protein of the novel coronavirus, in June, Morales said.
“With the approval of emergency use… we would be on track to a more massive vaccination of the population,” said Morales.
That mass vaccination would start with the most at-risk groups including the over-60 and health care workers. By August, six million people should have received a vaccine, with all Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants vaccinated by year-end, Morales said.
Cuba is registering 600 to 1,000 new cases a day, well above the scores or a handful per day for most of last year. Since the pandemic started, the country has reported 68,250 cases and 401 deaths, one of the lowest rates in the world per capita.
Government critics have said Cuba should have purchased approved vaccines from abroad to kick off its immunization campaign while it completed trials on its homegrown vaccines.
The country developed a large biotech sector partly in order to become self sufficient in the face of a crippling U.S. trade embargo. Venezuela and Iran, which also face U.S. sanctions, say they will also trial the Cuban Covid-19 vaccines, which have attracted the interest of other countries like Mexico and Jamaica.
Cuba will administer Covid-19 experimental vaccines to nearly all Havana residents (nbcnews.com)
Vials of Cuba’s Abdala Covid-19 vaccine candidate during a press conference of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries of Cuba in Havana on March 19, 2021.Katell Abiven / AFP – Getty Images
PRESIDENT OF CUBA PRAISES PROGRESS IN IMMUNIZATION AGAINST COVID-19
The president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, praised the country’s progress in immunizing the population against Covid-19 with the use of vaccine candidates produced by the national biotechnology industry.
Radio Reloj
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (r) succeeded (l and center) Fidel Castro and Raul Castro.
Havana, Cuba.- The president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, praised the country’s progress in immunizing the population against Covid-19 with the use of vaccine candidates produced by the national biotechnology industry.
The president tweeted highlighting that, between clinical trials and controlled intervention studies, thousands of Cubans are receiving the doses of Soberana-02 and Abdala, which opens the way to mass vaccination.
‘Dreaming and continuing a country: This year we will advance in immunization with our vaccines!’, he stated.
The head of state also tweeted thanking those who created the vaccines and those who produce them, ‘because they not only inject our body,’ but also sow ‘security and hope in the national soul.’
Cuban health authorities announced yesterday that 70 percent of the Cuban population will be immunized against SARS-CoV-2 between July and August of this year, thanks to a staggered vaccination strategy, which involves different population groups between 19 and 80 years.
Cuban women walk past wall with Cuban flag.
As part of the phase III clinical trials currently being conducted, 44,010 people will be inoculated with Soberana-02 in Havana, and 48 thousand with Abdala in the eastern part of the country.
The purpose is to gradually immunize the population, so that 1.7 million people will be protected against the virus between April and May. Later, the research will be extended to other population groups, in a larger trial with both vaccine candidates.
