HAVANA— Cuba will begin vaccinating adolescents
against
COVID-19 this week and younger children from mid-September as part of a
drive to immunize more than 90 percent of the population by December, state-run
media said on Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
All children ages 2 through 18 will receive at least two doses
of the Cuban-developed Soberana-2 vaccine beginning September 3, the official
Cubadebate digital news outlet reported.
Health Ministry official Ileana Morales Suarez was quoted as
saying the campaign would resemble annual
vaccinations against various childhood
diseases, taking place at thousands of community-based family medical practices
and clinics.
Trials of the vaccine in minors found it to be safe and that
it elicited a stronger immune response than in adults, according to state-owned
manufacturer Finlay Institute.
The decision was announced at a weekly meeting of leaders
and scientists to confront the pandemic on the communist-run Caribbean island
currently battling a Delta variant-driven surge that has strained its health
system and hit the younger population much harder than previous versions of the
virus.
Over the past week, Cuba averaged between 6,500 and 7,000
cases per day and 70 to 80 deaths, down significantly from a few weeks ago but
still one of the highest rates in the world in terms of cases per 100,000
inhabitants.
Vaccination of the
adult population primarily using another
locally-developed shot, Abdala, will be stepped up with the goal of ensuring
all eligible adults have at least begun the three-shot-treatment by the end of
the month.
Cubans are desperate to get their kids back in school after
months of home schooling, a prospect postponed again this September.
The country is suffering shortages of everything from food
and medicine to parts and inputs for power plants and agriculture, due to
closure of the tourism industry, tough US sanctions, and its own
inefficiencies.
It desperately wants to tame the disease in time for the
tourism season that begins in November.
Both Cuban vaccines, with a reported efficacy of more than
90 percent, have been approved by local regulators for emergency use, although
the data has not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals.
In the capital, Havana, where more than 60 percent of the
2.2 million residents are fully vaccinated, cases and deaths per 100,000
residents are far below the national average, according to government
statistics.
Currently around 50 percent of Cuba's 11.3 million residents
have received at least one dose of vaccine, with more than 3.5 million fully
vaccinated.
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