Havana, February 22 (RHC)-- The 60th National  Polio Vaccination drive got underway in Cuba this Monday, the Ministry of Public Health reported.

This immunization plan will run through Saturday, and a second stage will take place from March 1 to 9th.

Children under three years of age will receive the oral vaccine, and there will be a second dose for those of nine years of age to be carried out in polyclinics and family doctor's and nurse's offices.

Before 1959, only two diseases were eradicated in the country, yellow fever, and smallpox, but six diseases were already eliminated with immunization plans during the revolutionary period.

Polio vaccination campaigns began in Cuba in 1962 and have been carried out every year since then to protect the population.

Cuba was the first country in Latin America to be declared a territory free of this infectious-contagious disease that affects the central nervous system.