By Pascal Fletcher
HAVANA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - In a rare show of cooperation between the United States and Cuba, health officials in the communist-run nation on Wednesday introduced an American-made needle-free vaccine injector that will be tested on Cubans.
"This is a gesture of cooperation by our country with another country, in this case with a company from the United States," said Dr. Manuel Diaz Gonzalez, deputy director of Cuba's Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine.
Health officials introduced the injector, made by Genesis Medical Technologies Inc. of Denver, to a group of Cuban nurses. They are among 200 vaccinators who will give a Cuban-produced anti-tetanus vaccine to 6,000 volunteers from urban and rural areas. On Wednesday, they learned how to load the injectors and tested them on oranges.
The real injections will begin on Monday in Havana, and the trial will take three months to complete.
State health officials, among others, would oversee the vaccinations, and 60 doctors would study the reactions of those who received the shots. Those receiving the vaccinations would be required to sign a consent form.
Clauses in the 36-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba allow for the licensed sale and donation of medicines to Cuba.
Stephen Marshall, the Genesis representative in Cuba, said the trial had the approval of both the Cuban and U.S. authorities. "They know exactly what is going on," he told Reuters.
The Genesis needle-free jet injector, which is about six inches (15 cm) long, uses a metal spring to drive a piston through a small vial of vaccine. "It fires a very fine jet which exits at 500 mph (800 kph)," Diaz said.
The company says its product is cleaner and safer than the conventional needle and syringe, reducing the dangers of needlestick injuries and cross contamination.
22:04 12-16-98
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