The Swedes have rejected it, Dr. Fauci says the US may soon approve it, the Chinese have started, but the Cubans have already vaccinated nearly all young children against Covid-19, the UK newspaper reported.

The newspaper also added that more than 95% of two- to 18-year-olds have now been fully vaccinated.

¨Although Covid-19 hits children less severely, they are an important factor in transmission,¨ said Dr. Gerardo Guillén, lead developer of Abdala vaccine candidate (one of the country´s homegrown vaccines.

Child vaccination, one of the world´s highest Covid-19 vaccination rates and high herd immunity after a massive Delta peak last summer, he said, have contributed to significantly lower infections rates in Cuba than in the United States and Europe throughout the Omicron new wave.

Some international experts warned about the application of the Abdala Covid-19 vaccine candidate in young children, while Cuban scientists claimed that phase I and II clinical trials of Soberana 2 and Soberana Plus vaccines in 350 children aged between three and 18 found no serious adverse.

The newspaper also added that the trail data were sent to peer-review journals and is pending publication. Health officials said that in the coming weeks, all trial data will be sent to the World Health Organization (WHO), as they request export approvals.

According to data from the Cuban Public Health Ministry (MINSAP, in Spanish), 87.5% of the 11.2 million inhabitants in the country have been fully vaccinated with Abdala, Soberana 02 or Soberana Plus, and about 4.5 million have already received one booster dose.

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