There was an air of optimism and relief among the first frontline medical staff in Cuba to receive the island’s experimental vaccine, Soberana 2 – meaning Sovereignty 2.

The vaccine candidate, which is still officially in phase 3 trials, represents Cuba’s best hope of lifting the lockdown on the capital Havana and beginning to claw back some of the lost economy, especially in the tourism sector.

Even though Soberana is yet to be fully certified as an official vaccine, the authorities are so confident in its effectiveness the process of giving it to 150,000 Cuban doctors, nurses and healthcare workers is now fully under way.

Cuba has a strong record in vaccine development having produced its own meningitis B vaccine in the late 1980s. The numbers of infections and deaths from Covid-19 are much lower in Cuba than elsewhere in the world but the lockdown has caused serious economic hardship.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The government’s intention is to vaccinate the population of Havana before the end of May.

However, the communist-run government has come under some criticism for not ordering doses of some of the other coronavirus vaccines available, perhaps from Russia or China, to begin the protection of medical staff while the Soberana vaccine is in development.

Nevertheless, there is interest elsewhere in Latin America in the Cuban-developed vaccine candidates – which include at least two others beyond Soberana – especially from Venezuela, Mexico and Jamaica.