Big Pharma vs. Little Cuba: Why Cubans trust vaccines and how they're helping vaccinate the world

A ground crew member directs the loading of a shipment of Cuba's homegrown COVID-19 vaccines donated to Syria, on the tarmac of the Jose Marti International Airport, in Havana, on Jan. 7, 2022. (AP Photo / Ramon Espinosa)

Vaccines could be saving the world from COVID-19, but they aren’t. Almost everywhere, vaccine access or vaccine hesitancy are our Achilles heels.

Vaccine access correlates to GDP, and higher income countries can strike deals with pharmaceutical companies. Vaccination programs also deploy less of these countries’ health-care budgets — 0.8 per cent versus 56.6 per cent for lower-income countries.