Cuban province to immunize schoolchildren against five diseases

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 5 (ACN) Students in first, fifth, eighth, ninth, and eleventh grades in the municipality of Jaruco, in the western province of Mayabeque, will be immunized against five diseases from September 8 to 12, Rosa Maria Ojito, head of the Immunization Program at the Noelio Capote Comprehensive Teaching Polyclinic, reported.

First graders will receive vaccines against mumps, rubella, and measles, as well as boosters for diphtheria and tetanus, Ojito told Radio Mayabeque. Preventive doses for typhoid fever will be available for fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades, while ninth graders will complete immunization with tetanus toxoid, the official added.

For the administration of these doses, the signed informed consent form from parents or guardians will be required at each school; without this authorization, students cannot be vaccinated, the specialist noted.

This year, Cuba carried out its 64th National Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccination Campaign, held from April 21 to 26, to maintain the country's polio-free status since 1962 and strengthen immunity in children under three years of age.

According to the National Immunization Program, the pentavalent vaccine is indicated for primary vaccination in infants and boosters in the early years; for children aged eight to eleven years, it will only be used in catch-up vaccinations when there are delays or incomplete vaccinations, after evaluating the vaccination history.

For children over seven years of age, formulations with a lower antigenic load of pertussis (Tdap) or combined with inactivated polio (Tdap-IPV) will be preferentially used, in accordance with the program's technical criteria.