Apropos an article published in The Economist on August 3, 2022

Abstract

An article entitled "Covid-19 has damaged the reputation of Cuban health care" appeared in the British magazine The Economist. This article recognizes a set of positive Cuban indicators; for example, 89% of Cuba’s population is now fully vaccinated with its own vaccines —which efficacy rates over 92.4%. As negative elements, it refers to the poor economic situation of the country, the shortage of food supplies, the poor budget management, the mistakes made in the design and implementation of the organizational and management measures to confront the pandemic; and it considers that Cuba, relative to its size, had one the highest death toll or excess mortality due to COVID-19. The Economist editorial board wonders where we went wrong. The author of the current paper attempts, from his knowledge, to answer that question. Certainly, there was an excess of direct mortality due to COVID-19, but it occurred mainly in 2021 when adverse conditions coincided: the spread of the delta variant, the insufficient amount of vaccinated population at that time, the shortage of oxygen and medicine supplies; it is also analyzed whether the fatality cases during the pandemic, still with a positive PCR test, died “due to COVID-19” or “with COVID-19”.The author expresses his dissent against the idea that COVID-19 has damaged the reputation of the Cuban healthcare system, although some factors limited its real possibilities. The experience gathered leads to new reflection on this health disaster that affected us all.