Cuba prepares to vaccinate its children, the entire population

HAVANA, September 1 (Reuters) – Cuba will this week start vaccinating adolescents against COVID-19 and young children from mid-September as part of a campaign to immunize more than 90% of the population by December, state media said on Wednesday. .

All children aged 2 to 18 will receive at least two doses of the Soberana-2 vaccine developed in Cuba starting September 3, official digital media Cubadebate reported.

Health ministry official Ileana Morales Suarez said the campaign would look like annual vaccinations against various childhood illnesses, which take place in thousands of community family medicine practices and clinics.

Trials of the vaccine in minors found it to be safe and elicit a stronger immune response than in adults, according to state manufacturer Finlay Institute.

The move was announced at a weekly meeting of leaders and scientists to deal with the pandemic on the communist-led Caribbean island that is currently battling a push-off from the Delta variant that has strained its health system and hit the younger population much harder than previous versions of the virus.

Over the past week, Cuba has recorded an average of 6,500-7,000 cases per day and 70-80 deaths, down significantly from a few weeks ago, but remains one of the highest rates in the world. world in terms of cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Vaccination of the adult population primarily using another locally developed vaccine, Abdala, will be stepped up with the aim of ensuring that all eligible adults have started at least three injections by the end of the month.

Cubans are desperate to get their children back to school after months of home schooling, a prospect again postponed until September.

The country suffers from shortages of everything from food and medicine to parts and inputs for power plants and agriculture, due to the shutdown of the tourism industry, harsh US sanctions and its own inefficiencies.

He desperately wants to tame the disease in time for the tourist season which begins in November.

The two Cuban vaccines, with a reported efficacy of over 90%, have been approved by local regulators for emergency use, although the data has yet to be published in peer-reviewed journals.

In the capital, Havana, where more than 60% of the 2.2 million inhabitants are fully vaccinated, cases and deaths per 100,000 inhabitants are well below the national average, according to government statistics.

Currently, about 50% of Cuba’s 11.3 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with more than 3.5 million fully vaccinated.

Reporting by Marc Frank Editing by Daniel Flynn and Bill Berkrot

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