Havana, October 17 (RHC)-- Cuban health authorities assured Wednesday that the application of the vaccine against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) was not the cause of the death of infant Paloma Domínguez Caballero, last October 9, and of adverse symptoms in four other infants.

The announcement was made after the first analysis of the reactions of the vaccine that caused the death of the one-year-old child.

Although investigations are still looking for the leading cause of the unfortunate incident, officials of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) affirmed that the lot administered to the affected children was endorsed, as each one that circulates in the country, by the Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices State Control enterprise (CECMED), the regulating entity of pharmaceuticals in Cuba.

"The vaccine is not the problem," Rafael Pérez Cristiá, director-general of CECMED, told Cubadebate.

The executive added that the MMR vaccine is applied in Cuba since 1986, and that its has been instrumental in the eradication of the three diseases on the island. From February to October this year, 43,630 doses of the same lot used in the five children detected with symptoms had been administered throughout the country.

Pérez Cristiá added that other lots are now circulating within the system, and there has not been any adverse event in other children.

From the four children that remained hospitalized that had been vaccinated in the same medical facility as the deceased infant, it was reported that two are out of danger and in a total absence of reactions, and that that the two others are still under strict monitoring but are evolving favorably.

MINSAP stressed that all are under multidisciplinary and prioritized medical care and that authorities are providing relatives with systematic clinical information on their evolution.