By Dr Jennifer Ruth Hosek, PhD, Queen’s University Ontario — The Conversation, 16 March 2022
Vaccine hesitancy is rare in Cuba. Cuba’s COVID-19 policies and practices are fundamentally science-based. Not-for-profit and universal, Cuba’s public health incorporates standardized, robust immunization schedules that have been the norm for decades. By developing and administering its own vaccines, Cuba has ensured affordable coverage (0.84 per cent of health-care costs), despite the United States embargo blocking medical supplies including during the pandemic. Cuba is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the world.
In December 2021 and January 2022, Dr. Hosek surveyed 40 Cuban residents about their attitudes toward vaccination. Every respondent — even government naysayers — wanted to be vaccinated. This widespread confidence is based on lived experience: since the 1960s, Cubans have followed a robust vaccine scheme from childhood onward, with the subsequent experience of protection from contagious disease. Many Cuban respondents compared their low contagion rates favourably with higher rates in countries without widespread vaccination.
Most Cubans trust their densely woven web of health services. Even Cubans who are skeptical of their government in other areas stated that the only reason for Cuban medical experts to do their work is to save lives. In contrast, many talked about how financial interests play into health care in other countries, making it potentially less trustworthy. Cuba also began vaccinating children two years and older in September 2021 — well before most other, much richer countries — and is now running Phase 2 clinical trials with children under age two. Cuba is exporting vaccines and transferring production technology to countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam. It is acting on the scientific fact that humanity will be safest when all who can be vaccinated are vaccinated. This article has been republished under Creative Commons licence.