When covid-19 first struck, Cuba sent some of its medics to countries struggling with their initial wave of patients. An impressive 89% of Cuba’s population is now fully vaccinated with its homegrown covid jabs which boast efficacy rates of up to 92.4% after three doses. But according to The Economist’s excess mortality tracker, Cuba has one of the highest estimated death tolls from the pandemic, relative to its size. For a long time Cubans were proud of their health-care system, and justifiably so. Between 2000 and 2020 the small communist-run island outspent most other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Where did it go wrong?
