This month, The New England Journal of Medicine, published an important correspondence titled, Protection Associated with Previous SARS-CoV-2. (8/11/22, Vol. 387, No. 6, pp. 568-570) The research was a collaboration between the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkley to find out how effective Covid vaccine was in a real-life setting.
Nicaragua was an important country for this research because of its high level of Covid vaccination, and its careful follow-up of people who received the vaccine. The genetic sequencing was provided by the Nicaraguan National Virology Laboratory, a highly sophisticated, state-of-the-art laboratory.
This study tells us that a poor country like Nicaragua can accomplish great things when it has a government that is dedicated to helping everyone achieve good health care at all levels—from the smallest health post to a world-class laboratory.
For more on Nicaragua’s health care system, please see this story on the privilege of universal free health care:
https://www.casabenjaminlinder.org/navigatingnicaragua/privilege-of-free-health-care