Africa-Press – Tanzania. CUBA has expressed its readiness to share its expertise with Tanzania on developing Covid-19 vaccine.
Tanzania is currently considering producing its own vaccines, with ongoing initiatives for embarking on studies for that purpose.
The Parliament was last week informed that President Samia Suluhu Hassan has endorsed 3bn/- to facilitate the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) to research and develop Tanzanian vaccines to fight the pandemic.
Speaking with the Daily News in Dar es Salaam recently, Ambassador of Cuba to Tanzania, Prof Lucas Polledo, said: “We are ready to give technical support to Tanzania in developing the vaccines.”
Tanzania and Cuba have for so many years been cooperating mainly in health and education, with several Cuban medical experts offering services in Tanzania’s hospitals, such as Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dodoma-based Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH) and Bugando in Mwanza.
Currently, there are 49 Cuban medical specialists, doctors and nurses in the country.
On the other hand, many Tanzanians have pursued medical courses in Cuba.
According to the Ambassador, currently there are over 20 Tanzanian medical students in Cuba.
He said since the eruption of the pandemic over two years ago, his country had since them embarked on a mission to find vaccines for its people.
“We used our medical professionals to search for the vaccines, and we are happy that our professionals did a good job in developing our own vaccines,” he said.
He said the medical professionals have developed five types of vaccines, with two of them, Abdala and Soberana 02 currently in use.
Whereas the Abdala vaccine is administered to all people, the Soberana 02 is for those who had contacted and recovered from the disease.
With the developed vaccines, the country has vaccinated 89.9 per cent of its people, with 26 million doses already administered.
“We have become the first country to vaccinate all children from the age of 2 to 18 years old,”.
“Our researchers have saved the lives of many people through these vaccines,” he said, noting that the country is currently seeking WHO certification on those vaccines so that they could be used globally.
“Our country is now in talks with WHO so that it endorses our vaccines. These vaccines have proved to be a big success. If our vaccine is endorsed, African countries would get relief. I urge Tanzania to receive these vaccines after being endorsed by WHO,” he insisted.
He said his country was optimistic that WHO would endorse them since they have given positive results.
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