Havana, December 19th. Cuba blames US sanctions for delay in World Health Organization (WHO) authorization of its Abdala covid vaccine, due to “refusal of several banks” to make a transfer to a company in charge of part of the production .
The president of the state group of the Cuban state biopharmaceutical industry BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez, explained this in an interview published this Monday by the official Granma newspaper, a year after the documentation for approval was sent to the WHO.
He indicated that there is a problem with the start-up of the “line where recombinant products are manufactured” in his new plant and that it is due “to the fact that no payments have been made to the company in charge of starting up the equipment and plants of that production line”.
He added that Cuba has been trying to pay for nine months, but has encountered “the refusal of several banks” to make the transfers. He hopes, however, that the evaluation process will finally culminate in 2023.
Cuba has suffered for six decades from economic, financial and trade sanctions by the United States, which also placed the island on the list of countries promoting terrorism, which imposed even more restrictions on its international banking operations.
This year BioCubaFarma moved its production of the Abdala vaccine to a new plant in the Mariel Special Economic Zone to meet WHO requirements and to receive its authorisation.
Once the new factory with the recombinant production line is completed, it is expected to be reviewed by WHO.
An international delegation of 11 experts – the first led by US scientists in five years – visited the plant in June and later presented a report to “reduce barriers” to increase international collaboration with the Cuban biotech industry.
WHO’s approval is crucial for Cuba to be able to sell its covid-19 vaccine abroad, which would mean international recognition and a source of foreign currency for the island, which is experiencing a serious economic crisis.
Martínez recalled that “eight countries have given this authorization (in the use of Cuban vaccines) and others are evaluating them”.
Cuba has been applying a massive vaccination campaign with Abdala and the other two nationally produced vaccines (Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus) for more than a year in its territory.
More than 90% of the Cuban population (11.1 million inhabitants), including children aged 2 and over, have so far received the full program.
For months now, the levels of new covid-19 infections in Cuba have been below 100 cases per day. EFE extension
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