Dr. Lena López, head of the Immunization Program at the Public Health Ministry (MINSAP), informed this week -with a May 2-to-6 recovery period for those who cannot be vaccinated now- children aging one month and under three who received a first dose will be immunized.

She added that children aged nine who will receive their reactivation as part of the national, regional and global strategy to keep polio eradicated will be included in this second stage.

López pointed out that Cuba, during the Covid-19 pandemic, drew up some strategies in order to keep vaccination coverage, and for this reason, Cuba is considered one of the few nations in the Americas with high polio coverage to keep children protected.

Poliomyelitis is an infectious-contagious disease that affects the central nervous system, mainly in children, and can cause muscular atrophy, paralysis, deformity and in some cases death.

As part of the immunization scheme, Cuba is currently applying 11 vaccines against 13 diseases, eight of them are of homegrown ones, according to Dr. Francisco Durán, MINSAP´s Epidemiology Director.

According to Liset Pérez, consultant of the PAHO/WHO office in Cuba, this initiative has allowed over one million people in 40 countries to get vaccinated against polio since 2003.

She pointed out that despite these efforts, the Americas are presently facing a crisis in terms of vaccination services.

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