President of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma), Eduardo Martinez, informed at a press conference that this decision is due to the high safety of the Cuban vaccines proven in previous studies and in the mass vaccination campaign carried out.
Cuba is the first country in the world to implement a mass vaccination campaign in children from two to 18 years of age with two doses of Soberana 02 and one of Soberana Plus, both developed by the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV), with a 91.2-percent effectiveness against this disease.
The Abdala vaccine was also administered to senior students of pre-university and technical-professional education at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).
Martinez explained that the CIGB will soon deliver to the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED), the national regulatory authority, its report on the studies with this vaccine in children between 2 and 18 years of age.
He said that all the subjects of that age group that could be immunized in Cuba have already received a shot of the Soberana 02 vaccine.
Minister of Public Health, Jose Angel Portal Miranda, confirmed that this figure makes up 92 percent of the children (1,759,642).
Portal Miranda stressed that, when the last dose of Soberana Plus is administered in November, Cuba will be the first country in the world to resume onsite education with all students vaccinated against Covid-19.
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