In this episode, how Cuba is pushing ahead with the development of its own coronavirus vaccines – and could be nearing vaccine sovereignty. And we hear from a researcher about what he learnt from asking hundreds of people about the biggest decisions of their lives. You’re listening to episode 14 of The Conversation Weekly podcast. 

Throughout 2020, the small island nation of Cuba was able to limit the spread of COVID-19. By early May, 675 people had died from the disease. But case numbers have been increasing in 2021 and there are currently around 1,000 new cases being recorded each day. That makes Cuba’s race to make its own coronavirus vaccine even more urgent. 

This week we speak to three experts to help explain how Cuba’s race for a coronavirus vaccine is going – and where it fits into the wider picture of global vaccine diplomacy: Amilcar Pérez Riverol, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo State in Brazil, Jennifer Hosek, professor of languages, literatures and cultures at Queen's University, Ontario in Canada, and Peter Hotez, professor of paediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine in the US.

In our second story, we speak to Adrian Camilleri about his research asking people about the big decisions they've taken in their lives. He tells us that the process of making a big decision can have an impact on how you think about it later in your life.

And Finlay Macdonald, senior editor at The Conversation in New Zealand, gives us his recommended reads for the week.

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. If you'd like to sign up for The Conversation's free daily newsletter, please subscribe here. To get in touch, find us on Twitter @TC_Audio or on Instagram at theconversationdotcom. Or you can email us on [email protected]. Full credits for this episode can be found here. A transcript of the episode is available here.

Further reading

• The scene from Cuba: How it’s getting so much right on COVID-19, by Jennifer Ruth Hosek, Queen's University, Ontario
• Cuba’s economic woes may fuel America’s next migrant crisis, by William M. LeoGrande, American University School of Public Affairs
• Cuba steps up in the fight against coronavirus, at home and around the world, by Janice Argaillot, Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
• By sending doctors to Italy, Cuba continues its long campaign of medical diplomacy, by Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla, University of Warwick
• I asked hundreds of people about their biggest life decisions. Here’s what I learned, by Adrian R. Camilleri, University of Technology Sydney
• NZ’s hate speech proposals need more detail and wider debate before they become law, by Eddie Clark, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
• Forensics and ship logs solve a 200-year mystery about where the first kiwi specimen was collected, by Paul Scofield, University of Canterbury and Vanesa De Pietri, University of Canterbury