Cuba may become the smallest country to make covid-19 vaccines
Whether they will be approved elsewhere remains to be seen
BY 7AM A long queue stretches around the medical centre near the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana. Some of those waiting have been there for hours; all are hoping to be volunteers to test Soberana-2 (Sovereign-2), Cuba’s most advanced covid-19 vaccine candidate, which is in phase-three clinical trials. At 8am sharp, the first 40 are admitted into two large rooms, given rapid lateral-flow tests and told what to expect if they are recruited as volunteers. Yosvany Rodríguez Muñoz, a 37-year-old doorman, is one of the lucky ones. Staff at the clinic measure his height, weight and blood pressure before giving him an appointment for the next day. After 28 days he will get a second dose.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Revolutionary drugs”
From the April 10th 2021 edition
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