French Senator Michelle Gréaume

Paris, November 17 (RHC)-- Senator Michelle Gréaume urged the French government on Tuesday to work with Cuba in the health sector, particularly in developing a vaccine against Covid-19.

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, the parliamentarian for the Department of the North, stated that this collaboration would result in a useful product to face the current period of the global pandemic, accessible to all and without discrimination linked to the financial resources of the countries.

The member of the Communist Party and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces of the upper house recognized the quality and innovation in the island's scientific research in the pharmaceutical field, despite the impact of the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade on the sector.

Unfortunately, the Helms-Burton Act continues to affect Cuba, depriving its people of essential goods and limiting access to raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry, she wrote in the letter.

She pointed out that French-Cuban cooperation would guarantee these raw materials to achieve a fast and effective vaccine.

Gréaume highlighted the recent meeting of the French Ambassador in Havana, Patrice Paoli, with Vicente Vérez, General Director of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, institution developing two of the four vaccine candidates of the island.

The senator insisted on the importance of the vaccine against Covid-19 being a public good and recalled that President Emmanuel Macron defended this position.