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Protests Erupt in Cuba

Millions of COVID-19 doses heading to Cuba as Biden Administration examines US-Cuba policies (Local10, July 20, 2021)
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Yes and no. Millions of 'COVID-19 doses' are transmitted from infected people to their fellow human beings every day all around the world, but not even millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses are heading to Cuba. In spite of the photo accompanying the article of a woman holding an oversized model of a syringe with the name of one of the Cuban vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, Soberana, the article completely misses the point: It's a donation of syringes, not of vaccines.
The author of the piece seems to think that a syringe for administering vaccine is the same as a dose of vaccine.
 
More help and support arriving from all corners of the world:

«Llega hoy una nueva ayuda a nuestro país, resultado de una larga historia en los vínculos que unen a las dos naciones y de las excelentes relaciones que existen entre nosotros. Es una reafirmación de que esta unión es inquebrantable», afirmó González Fraga, y añadió que estos donativos contribuirán a enfrentar la pandemia de la COVID-19.
El embajador mexicano en Cuba, Miguel Díaz Reynoso, aseveró que con esos envíos, «su nación agradece la ayuda y el apoyo de las brigadas médicas cubanas cuando más las necesitaba nuestro pueblo. Esta no es una acción aislada. Se inscribe en la búsqueda continua de la cooperación y la colaboración», y agregó que su Gobierno seguirá atento a las necesidades de Cuba para brindar más ayuda.

Desde China arribó una aeronave con 30 ventiladores pulmonares de altas prestaciones, y según una información del Mincex, esta carga forma parte de otra que está por llegar con más insumos médicos, fundamentalmente medios de protección.

Este tipo de actitud solidaria hacia nuestro pueblo muestra la inconformidad del mundo con las sanciones impuestas a Cuba por el criminal bloqueo comercial, económico y financiero de ee. uu., recrudecido en la etapa de mayor azote de la pandemia, y que la actual administración de Joe Biden no ha variado. Al contrario, recientemente amenazó con tomar más medidas coercitivas.
Cuba recibe, con honda gratitud, nuevos envíos solidarios desde México y China (Granma.cu, Aug. 1, 2021)
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Google translation:
«Today new aid arrives in our country, the result of a long history of ties that unite the two nations and of the excellent relations that exist between us. It is a reaffirmation that this union is unbreakable, "said González Fraga, adding that these donations will contribute to facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mexican ambassador to Cuba, Miguel Díaz Reynoso, asserted that with these shipments, “his nation appreciates the help and support of the Cuban medical brigades when our people most needed them. This is not an isolated action. It is part of the continuous search for cooperation and collaboration,” adding that his government will continue to be attentive to Cuba's needs in order to provide more assistance.
An aircraft with 30 high-performance lung ventilators arrived from China, and according to information from the Mincex, this cargo is part of another that is yet to arrive with more medical supplies, mainly means of protection.
This attitude of solidarity with our people shows the world's dissatisfaction with the sanctions imposed on Cuba by the criminal commercial, economic and financial blockade of the USA, intensified in the stage of greatest scourge of the pandemic, and that the current administration of Joe Biden has not changed. On the contrary, he recently threatened to take more coercive measures.
With deep gratitude, Cuba receives new solidarity shipments from Mexico and China
 
dann said:
It makes me wonder how it will be interpreted when the Cuban vaccination campaign overtakes the USA.
Doses per 100 pop
USA: 101.14 (July 19)
Cuba: 72.62 (July 17)
Vaccinated
USA: 55.71% (July 19)
Cuba: 29.65% (July 17)
Fully vaccinated
USA: 48.28% (July 19)
Cuba: 18.62% (July 17)
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I expect it to speed up in the next couple of weeks, but considering the difficulties Cuba is up against, I don't think it's doing bad:
Doses per 100 pop
USA: 103.35 (July 31)
Cuba: 80.95 (July 28)
Vaccinated
USA: 57.26% (Aug. 1)
Cuba: 33.84% (July 30)
Fully vaccinated
USA: 49.26% (Aug. 1)
Cuba: 23.13% (July 30)

The number of deaths per million in Cuba is still rising much too fast.
At 251, Cuba has overtaken Norway (146) and Finland (177) with more than half of Denmark's (438).
With millions of syringes arriving in the country, I can't imagine that Cuba will ever get anywhere near the number of the USA (1,889), however much Trump and Biden would want it to.
 
The rioters in Cuba seem to have some things in common with the rioters in the USA:

They call "opponents" those who break windows and doors at shopping centers, steal merchandise and destroy cars belonging to state institutions, as well as privately owned vehicles; insult and assault police officers, assault and attempt to damage institutional buildings and streets, among many other violent acts, violating the law and order, and challenging the stability and security of their fellow citizens.
It is curious, as well as repulsive, to see the festive use they make of their cell phones to record their acts of "opposition." And then, they are apparently so ignorant they do not realize that the same images they desperately upload to the internet provide the evidence to identify violators of the law and allow Cuba’s courts of justice to call them to responsible for their actions.
It is also repugnant that those who "hire" them for these "opposition" maneuvers offer them a few dollars for their contribution to overthrowing the "Cuban regime." They become cheap mercenaries, and many of them, real terrorists.
I am sure that our people know how to identify them and have full confidence that our justice system will hold them accountable for these criminal acts, with the aggravating factors of their contribution to disseminating media slanders n the midst of a pandemic and promoting its proliferation.
I doubt they will continue to be called only "opponents" in court.
The "opponents” (Granma.cu, Aug. 5, 2021)
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newyorkguy said:
With a population of 11 million people -- thirty times smaller than the United States -- Cuba is now recording more new Covid-19 cases per day then in the U.S. :(.
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The pandemic is still raging in Cuba, but the USA has more Covid-19 cases per day than Cuba again and more deaths in total numbers, but not per capita. And on top of Cuba's other problems with the pandemic, there is a shortage of oxygen: Cuba busca alternativas para mitigar afectaciones por baja cobertura de oxígeno medicinal (Granma.cu, Aug. 15, 2021)

However, the Cuban vaccine campaign is moving along at an admirable pace, the Che Guevara medical brigade has returned from Venezuela to help administer vaccinations, and I think it won't be long until Cuba overtakes the American vaccination numbers:

More than 25 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, 11,409,451 jabs have been administered (the Cuban vaccines require three shots). 4,788,750 people have had at least one dose, 3,604,756 a second dose, and 3,015,945 three doses.
Cuba has a population of 11.3 million.
Más del 25 % de la población cubana está completamente vacunada contra la COVID (Granma.cu, Aug. 14, 2021)
 
Google Translate:
In the recent meeting with the experts and scientists who fight the pandemic, it was stated that the results of the study of Neutralization of sera of vaccinated with Abdala and Soberana 02, against the variants of concern and interest of COVID-19, show that neutralizing antibody titers are observed in sera from those vaccinated with Abdala and Soberana 02, for all the variants analyzed, including Delta. They are also observed in convalescent patients vaccinated with Mambisa and Soberana Plus.

It was also announced that in the next week a million more people will be vaccinated and 22 municipalities will be incorporated that will start, between Friday and Saturday, with the immunization.

The doses for this endeavor will be distributed in the country in the next few hours. Last week the production of 20 million doses (two million bulbs) of the vaccine against COVID-19 Abdala was completed. (National Editorial Office)
Inmunógenos cubanos producen anticuerpos neutralizantes a todas las variantes de la COVID-19 (Granma.cu, Aug. 19, 2021)
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Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide (CNN Covid-19 vaccine tracker: View vaccinations by country, Aug. 19, 2021)
Comparing vaccination rates: Doses administered per 100 people
United States: 107 (248 days)
Cuba: 108 (101 days)

COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, Aug 18, 2021 (OurWorldInData)
United States: 107.22Cuba: 107.93 (Aug. 16, 2021)
 
Among the many donor nations helping Haiti, Cuba and its medical teams have played a major role in treating earthquake victims.
(...)
“It is striking that there has been virtually no mention in the media of the fact that Cuba had several hundred health personnel on the ground before any other country,” said David Sanders, a professor of public health from Western Cape University in South Africa.
The Cuban team coordinator in Haiti, Dr Carlos Alberto Garcia, says the Cuban doctors, nurses and other health personnel have been working non-stop, day and night, with operating rooms open 18 hours a day.
Cuba’s aid ignored by the media? - Cuban doctors were first to provide relief in Haiti, but received little press coverage. (AlJazeera, Feb. 16, 2010)
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- But that was about the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, not about the latest Haitian earthquake!

- Yes, it was! But nothing's changed in this respect in 2021!

After a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday morning, Cuban doctors already working in the country are assisting the injured, reports the Cubadebate website.
With the death toll already reaching 304 and rising, the new Prime Minister Ariel Henry instituted a state of emergency for the western department of Nippes and Grand’Anse to the south, reported CNN.
“When it comes to medical needs, this is our biggest urgency. We have started to send medications and medical personnel to the facilities that are affected,” Henry said.
“We have sent more personnel to help out,” he said. “For the people who need urgent special care, we have evacuated a certain number of them, and we will evacuate some more today and tomorrow.”
url=https://havanatimes.org/features/cuban-doctors-helping-injured-in-haiti-after-earthquake/]Cuban Doctors Helping Injured in Haiti after Earthquake[/url] (Havana Times, Aug. 14, 2021)
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(And no, Havana Times is not a pro-Cuban website!)

I assume that Cuba will help get a Haitian Covid-19 vaccine campaign going when all Cubans have had the first jab.
 
Ganar tiempo en el tratamiento es clave para preservar la vida (+Video) (Granma.cu, Aug. 22, 2021)
The article isn't easy for Google to translate into English, but it makes it possible to understand most of it. It gives an impression of the difficulties that Cuba's pandemic response (actually the whole health-care system) has been facing after it was overwhelmed by the Delta variant.

The vaccine rollout in Cuba still seems to be doing fine:
Cuba 109.74 (Aug. 20, 2021)
USA 108.44
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, Aug 22, 2021, (Our World in Data, Aug. 22, 2021)

Cuba 1.29 (Aug 20, 2021)
USA 0.27
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, Aug 22, 2021, (Our World in Data, Aug. 22, 2021)
 
The emails kept coming in… From farmers and students and chefs and academics whom I’d taken to that tiny island country over the past two decades to learn about her leadership in sustainable agriculture, cooperatives, and growing food in cities: What’s REALLY going on in Cuba?” they asked.
Don’t Believe All that You Hear—Here’s What’s Really Going On in Cuba (Granma.cu, Aug. 25, 2021)
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We see arrogant attitudes from some people who process the information by paying no attention to the suggestion made by the authorities, who tendentiously look for reasons to make them feel they are right and by picking the information that confirm their conclusions: “It is rude to wear a face mask around your loved ones.” “If I haven’t caught the virus so far, it is because I may be immune to it.” “Let them go to the slumber party, I’m fed up.” “Why wearing face masks all the time, if we already got vaccinated?”
Cuban people are more used to living traumatic events like hurricanes, which also happen to be temporary. The problem with the pandemic is that it goes by as a “slow disaster” that seems to have installed in an “eternal present,” that is yet to be over.
Attention! Pandemic fatigue in sight (Granma.cu, Aug. 25, 2021)
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Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide (CNN, Aug. 27, 2021)
Doses administered per 100 people
USA 109
Cuba 114
 
newyorkguy said:
With a population of 11 million people -- thirty times smaller than the United States -- Cuba is now recording more new Covid-19 cases per day then in the U.S. :(.
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Two and a half months later, this has changed considerably, mainly because the number of cases as well as deaths per day in the USA has increased since July, but Cuba's number of Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people (Our World in Data) is also sinking rapidly thanks to Cuba's extremely efficient vaccine rollout.
On CNN's Covid-19 vaccine tracker site, Cuba is now #4 in the world in doses administered per 100 people.

Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19: Cuba, USA (Our World in Data)
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people: Cuba, USA - rolling 7-day average (Our World in Data)
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, Sep 30, 2021: Cuba, USA (Our World in Data)
Share of people who received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine: Cuba, USA (Our World in Data)
Share of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19: Cuba, USA (Our World in Data)
 
With what appears to be a steady drop in the number of new cases, Cuba is reopening:
After being shut for more than a year, beaches in Havana are now opened for visitors. How did the locals take advantage of the new relaxed covid-19 guidelines.
Covid-19 curbs lifted, beaches finally reopened in Havana (WION, Oct 2, 2021)
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The famed Malecon seafront promenade in Havana, Cuba, reopens as well as the beaches and pools in the capital, after being shut for nine months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Havana's famed Malecon seafront promenade reopens after Covid closure (AFP on YouTube, Sep 30, 2021)
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Notice that they are all wearing face masks.
 
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newyorkguy said:
With a population of 11 million people -- thirty times smaller than the United States -- Cuba is now recording more new Covid-19 cases per day then in the U.S. :(.
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It just occurred to me that I never actually checked newyorkguy's claim that Cuba, "with a population of 11 million people," was "recording more new Covid-19 cases per day then in the U.S." on July 10, 2021.
It wasn't true! And, in fact, it never was!
The Cuban number of daily cases were pretty awful back then, and it only got worse for the next two months, but on July 10, Cuba had 4,406 cases, USA 19,061 (rolling 7-day average).
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases: Cuba, USA

To get an idea of how bad the situation was in Cuba, we would have to look instead at Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people: Cuba, USA.
This makes it apparent that for a couple of months this summer and fall, Cuba had (and actually still has) more daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million than the USA. On July 10, Cuba had 389 cases per million, the USA 57.

At approximately the same time, Cuba's daily death toll from COVID-19 per million people also exceeded that of the USA, but Cuba's number of daily deaths decreased much faster and is now lower than in the USA: Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people: Cuba, USA.

I assume that the vaccines are the reason why Cuba has fewer deaths per million but still more daily cases of infection than the USA: Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19: Cuba, USA.

For some time, Cuba has had a higher percentage of vaccinated people, but until very recently a low proportion of people who were fully vaccinated, so the level of vaccination was enough to help prevent deaths but not yet enough to really prevent new infections. Now that Cuba has caught up with the USA in the percentage of people that are fully vaccinated, I think that very soon, maybe by the end of this week, the USA will have a higher percentage of new infections than Cuba - not only because of the vaccines, but also because the Cubans seem to be adhering to the mask mandate.
 
An open letter to President Biden on COVID-19 vaccines for Cuba

I didn't notice this one when it appeared two months ago:

Dear President Joe Biden:

You recently talked about Cuba and its COVID-19 vaccine campaign at a White House press conference, saying: “I would be prepared to give significant amounts of vaccines if … an international organisation would administer those vaccines and do it in a way that average citizens would have access to those vaccines.” You also called Cuba a “failed state”.
These statements surprised many, including those in the United States who have had first-hand exposure to Cuba’s healthcare system. Your words also rankled front-line Cuban health workers risking their lives to contain the COVID-19 epidemic in our country.

They do not reflect Cuban reality, and we deplore that disinformation by malicious actors is influencing your policy decisions. As scientists, doctors, and concerned citizens, we believe it is worth fact-checking three assumptions implicit in what you said.

Assumption one: International intervention is needed to ensure all Cubans receive vaccines.
Assumption two: Cuba’s response to the pandemic has been dismal, symptomatic of a “failed state”.
Assumption three: US-supplied vaccines are the only route to guarantee COVID-19 immunisation for Cuba’s 11 million people.

Let us take these, one by one. ...
An open letter to President Biden on COVID-19 vaccines for Cuba (AlJazeera, Aug 21, 2021)
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Background:
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people
Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people

 
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