Cuba is making history, President says

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 29 (ACN) “We are making history here,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez wrote today on Twitter in reference to the swift and effective COVID-19 vaccination process among Cuban children and adolescents.

According to the President, 1.6 million Cuban children and adolescents have already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Soberana 02, 900,000 of them between the ages of 2 and 11.

Diaz-Canel emphasized that this whole process has been carried out nationwide in just 25 days, and no serious adverse events have been reported.

On a TV appearance, Dr. Vicente Vérez Becomo, director general of the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV), remarked that, while the world developed vaccines for adults, Cuba prepared one for children, because a conjugate vaccine is a children's vaccine.

“Such is the difference from the leading vaccines in the market, which were designed for adults, so starting with a pediatric-base vaccine made it possible to go faster, since there was certain evidence of safety,” he underscored.

“We have had quite remarkable results in children. All children who are 3 to 11 have received the second dose, and so have over 90% of teenagers. In comparison, with the same second dose, only 75% of adults respond. There is a difference,” said the IFV head. “As to the 3-to-11 age bracket, 90% reaches the 80% inhibition mark with the third dose, which is impressive.”