Coronavirus: Cuba now vaccinates 2-year-olds against Covid-19 (video)

Cuba started vaccinating younger children against Covid-19 on Monday. All 2 to 18 year olds are now to receive two doses of the Soberana-2 vaccine developed in Cuba. More than 90% of the population should be immunized by December, according to the island’s health authorities. The director of the Finlay Institute responsible for vaccines, Vicente Verez Bencomo, said on Cuban state television: “We developed our vaccination for children, because that is part of our field of work. We did this through a platform for child vaccinations and we have made better progress, unlike other vaccines that are entirely new and that have adverse effects on children. ” Phases 1 and 2 of the tests were carried out in Havana and demonstrated that the Vaxin was very safe, according to Bencomo. It was the political will to be able to send the children back to school as quickly as possible, according to Liset Oramas from a state research institution. In the past week, Cuba recorded an average of almost 7,000 corona cases a day, with 70 to 80 deaths. That’s a significant decrease from the last few weeks, but still one of the highest 7-day incidences in the world. Adults are vaccinated with the Abdala vaccine, also developed in Cuba. Both Cuban vaccines, which are reported to be more than 90% effective, have been approved for emergency use by local authorities, although the data has not yet been published in professional journals. The difficult economic situation in Cuba, triggered, among other things, by strict US sanctions, has worsened considerably as a result of the corona pandemic. This is probably one of the reasons why the government is aiming to immunize the population before the start of the holiday season in November.