Cuba adds Sinopharm to its vaccination programme

Cuba is now applying the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine alongside its homegrown shots as it deals with its biggest wave of coronavirus infections.

Authorities in central Cienfuegos province announced the rollout of the Chinese-developed jabs from Sunday, along with the use of Cuba's own Soberana Plus booster.

Cienfuegos, with a population of less than half a million inhabitants, reported 496 virus cases on Sunday and has seen more than 20,000 cases over the past 15 days.

Authorities did not explain how Cuba obtained the Chinese vaccines, nor did they specify whether they were purchased by the island's government or if they were donated.

It remains unclear why Cuba is now applying the Sinophram shots to some of its population.

The Soberana 02 and the Soberana Plus vaccines were developed by the Finaly Institute and are produced on the island.

A third, Abdala, was created by Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Cuba is the only country in Latin America that manufactures its own vaccines.

The Caribbean island had been highly successful in keeping the virus at bay last year, but cases began shooting up after a brief period of relaxed controls at the start of 2021.

Cienfuegos and other provinces, such as Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Ciego de Ávila and Havana, have been dealing with the latest wave of infections.

Cuba is also going through a tough economic period, with common food and medicine shortages as well as power outages sparking large protests in July.

As of Monday, the island has reported more than 645,000 coronavirus cases and 5,219 deaths linked to COVID-19.