Havana, March 28 (RHC-PL)-- The second stage of Cuba's National Polio Vaccination Campaign began on Monday.

Cuba's first national vaccination campaign against polio was in 1962. Health authorities reported recently that since that first campaign, nearly 85 million doses of the polio vaccine have been administered on the island.

According to official figures, during the first stage of this year's campaign in February, a total of 372,856 children under the age of three were administered the first dose of the vaccine.

During the current second stage, which runs through April 3rd, a total of 127,144 Cuban children under three will be administered the injected vaccine, which protects against all strains of the virus that causes poliomyelitis. Additionally, more than 119,000 nine-year-old-children will also be immunized against the disease.

The current campaign is as part of the World Health Organization Strategic Plan, which hopes to eradicate polio by 2018.

Cuba's free immunization program protects newborns and children against 12 diseases, while the medication used is produced mainly by the country's scientific institutions.