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

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

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

Cuba ministers homegrown vaccines to children aged 2 years and above

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

As per media reports, due to arrival of 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 number of infections of new coronavirus that have occurred in Cuba in last few months in pediatric population". Official statistics say that so far, country has recorded nearly 1,17,500 COVID cases among minors.

COVID situation in Cuba

country reported 8,434 fresh COVID cases in last 24 hours that tallied to 8,01,367 total COVID cases. In last 24 hours, 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. Cuban government, however, has not announced exact number of casualties among kids and infants. On or hand, government is also planning to reopen international borders and resume schools by mid-November after ministering vaccine to 90 per cent of population.

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With Inputs from ANI