in Cuba, they analyze the possibility of immunizing foreign tourists

Cuba could add as an attraction to its usual offer of sun and beach the possibility of to get vaccinated against the new coronavirus with its own antigens to international visitors, said health and tourism sector leaders.

“There is no doubt that the achievement of immunization… this will give us a level of safety first for the (health) workers and later for the population, ” Dr Yagen Pomares, director of the Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Hospital, told The Associated Press in Cienfuegos. the possibility of vaccinating foreign tourists.

The health center in the middle of the island, which also offers medical services to foreign visitors – for them it’s a payment – in May began vaccinating some 3000 people who make up their staff with the vaccine Abdala, produced by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Some of the hospital workers received the second dose – on a three-dose schedule – of the vaccine, the AP found during a recent visit to the city, some 250 kilometers east of the capital.

Own products

Cuba is the only Latin American country to have candidates own vaccines. In total, five products have been developed, two of which – Abdala and Soberana 02 – have already completed phase III of their clinical trials – they were applied to 400,000 people in March – although the results are still being communicated. .

Despite this, and in the midst of a strong outbreak of Covid-19 infections, authorities gave the green light in May to a campaign called “health intervention” whereby antigens are applied massively to the population as the waiting for local drug regulatory authorities to give their emergency clearance.

Monday, May 31, Dr Francisco Durán, director of epidemiology of the island, indicated that since the start of the pandemic, some 142,266 people of which 958 died.

The Ministry of Health has indicated that as part of this “health intervention”, 22% of the population will be vaccinated before June or July, when the aforementioned emergency authorization will take place, to have in August to 70% of the vaccinated population.

Minors are excluded.

Many countries are waiting to buy Cuban vaccines. Last weekend Argentina’s Health Minister Carla Vizzotti visited the island and met with President Miguel Díaz-Canel to reach an agreement to obtain antigens when they are marketed abroad .

Focus on tourism

But in the tourism sector – which until the pandemic was an engine of the economy – vaccines should also be at the center of appeal to visitors.

“Cuba has always been a safe destination and now it shows it a lot more with the five vaccine candidates,” Oscar Eduardo Morales Ojeda, director of the Rancho Luna-Faro Luna complex, told AP. “It can be seen as an attraction.”

The 268-room resort is an example of what the tourism industry is doing to attract visitors once their entry to the island, which currently has restrictions on flights and internal mobility, becomes more flexible.

Morales explained that the hotel has had to be revamped, more food and drink outlets have been opened to avoid crowds, there is a 24-hour doctor, and workers must take off their street clothes before their trips. services. In every corner there is alcohol gel.

According to official figures for the month of May, between January and April of this year, 64,712 tourists -Russians, Cuban emigrants and Canadians in the first place-, only 6.6% of the 918,387 in the same period of 2020.

Before the pandemic, Cuba aspired to receive some 4.5 million visitors in 2020, exceeding the figure of 4.2 million the year before. However, only a million arrived.

The Cuban economy is going through a serious crisis in which the loss of income from tourism and economic paralysis are combined, as well as the sanctions of the United States which seek to put pressure on a change of political model. Gross domestic product contracted by 11% in 2020.

Andrea Rodriguez / AP