Cuba administers homegrown COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 2 years and above

Amid the increasing cases of COVID-19, the Cuban government has started administering COVID vaccines to children aged two or above. Cuba's move to start vaccination among the kids has made Cuba the first country in the world to start a mass vaccination drive among kids. Although the government has not issued any guidelines mandating the COVID vaccine for kids, parents voluntarily bring their kids to vaccination centres.

According to media reports, many schools in Cuba have been converted into vaccination centres, and the vaccination drive is proceeding at a full pace. It is worth mentioning that Cuba is administering homegrown Soberana and Sovereign vaccines to its youngest population. A day ago, on September 19, many media channels were also invited to cover the vaccination procedure, and more than 240 children between the ages of 3 and 5 were vaccinated, confirmed, the clinic authorities.

Cuba administers homegrown vaccines to children aged 2 years and above

On Sunday, hundreds of kids took part in the vaccination drive, and the doctors and nurses entertained them in various ways. The clinic staff also wore Micky Mouse caps and used clowns with a speaker system to divert the attention of little ones while injecting COVID doses. Notably, the kids will be administered three jabs of the COVID vaccine, similar to the adult vaccination procedure. Cuba is currently using three homegrown vaccines, which have been approved for emergency usage. The vaccine has proved to be highly effective at preventing severe illness caused by COVID-19.

As per media reports, due to the arrival of the Delta variant, Cuba has recorded a steep hike in COVID cases among children. Earlier, Cuba's Health Minister, Jose Portal Miranda, issued an official statement that said, "It's alarming the number of infections of the new coronavirus that have occurred in Cuba in the last few months in the pediatric population". Official statistics say that so far, the country has recorded nearly 1,17,500 COVID cases among minors.

COVID situation in Cuba

The country reported 8,434 fresh COVID cases in the last 24 hours that tallied to 8,01,367 total COVID cases. In the last 24 hours, the country recorded 63 fatalities that stood at 6,796 cases. According to Ministerial data, as many as ten minors have died due to COVID since August. The Cuban government, however, has not announced the exact number of casualties among kids and infants. On the other hand, the government is also planning to reopen international borders and resume schools by mid-November after administering the vaccine to 90 per cent of the population.

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With Inputs from ANI