Cuban scientists reject Biden's comments

Cuban scientists signed an open letter to U.S. President Joe Biden Tuesday, complaining about his recent comments dismissing the island's ability in dealing with the new coronavirus.

"We cannot understand that a world statesman such as (U.S. President Joe Biden), a United States ruler, is echoing statements that respond to media manipulation, the facts speak for themselves," Mayda Mauri Pérez, vice president of the state corporation BioCubafarma, told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

"Cuba is one of the countries with the lowest COVID-19 lethality in the world despite the persistence of the embargo," she added.

Biden's remarks came during a meeting with the media on July 15th, following an unusual anti-government protest in several parts of the island.

Mauri said the initiative came from a dozen scientists and that the 22,000 workers of the state-run biotechnology organization BioCubafarma will be invited to sign it.

The letter will be published online next week.

According to Mauri, 13 million doses of COVID vaccines have been produced on the island to date.

As immunization of children and pregnant women has already started, 100% of the population is expected to be immunized by September.

Cuba is the only Latin American nation that produces its own antigens, Abdala and Soberana 02, of which it has administered 10 million doses.

Some 2.6 million people have already received the three injections foreseen in the scheme.

The Caribbean nation is reporting its worst peak of the pandemic.

Its health system is at its limit, especially in the central provinces of Ciego de Avila and Cienfuegos, although it is improving in Matanzas.

To date, more than 475,000 people have been infected and 3,600 have died.