Cuba rejected a one-million dose donation of COVID-19 vaccines from the U.S.

WLRN 91.3 FM | By Nora Gámez Torres

Published November 15, 2021 at 8:30 AM EST

FILE - This May 13, 2021, file photo shows syringes filled with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a mobile vaccination site in Miami. Police departments that are requiring officers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance across the U.S. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

The Cuban government rejected a U.S. donation of one million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine because the offer came too late and had too many requirements attached, the island’s foreign minister said in a gathering with accredited diplomats in Havana.

Bruno Rodriguez said the U.S. State Department reached out to the Cuban embassy in Washington last Friday to make the offer he referred to as “last minute” and “opportunistic.” The minister made the exchange public during an unusual meeting Wednesday in which he complained about alleged U.S. plans to destabilize the communist government and the lack of humanitarian assistance during the pandemic.

“They are offering vaccines to an already vaccinated population, even when the booster dose program is advancing, but they also pose strict and interventionist requirements, such as the obligation to carry out clinical studies in Cuba with these vaccines,” the minister said.

Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.