Maria Eugenia Toledo

Havana, January 24 (RHC)-- The decision to vaccinate children over the age of two against Covid-19 has put Cuba at the world's forefront in immunization, said Maria Eugenia Toledo, Soberana 02's senior clinical trials researcher.

In statements in the Mesa Redonda TV Program, the specialist stressed that the product, designed by the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, which is also in charge of Soberana 01 and Soberana Plus, was designed from the beginning for the country's minors.

She said this determination resulted from years of history and prestige in developing Cuban vaccines for children.

Toledo explained that the impact of the vaccination campaign on children from two to 18 years of age throughout the country continues to be evaluated.

In total, 1.6 million children have been vaccinated in this country with two doses of Soberana 02 plus one dose of Soberana Plus at an interval of 28 days.

Of that total, only 367 reported adverse events, and two were severe but local and related to the vaccination.

"In no small children was myocarditis or pericarditis observed. In addition, after the immunization process was completed, no deaths were reported in Cuba," she said.

She also highlighted the authorization of the emergency use of Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus for children in Iran, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

Regarding the rest of the trials and studies related to these two vaccines and the candidate Soberana 01, Toledo explained the impacts of the booster vaccination with the three vaccines, their effectiveness on health workers in Havana, and the interventions carried out with them in the province of Cienfuegos are being analyzed.

Referring to the scientific articles published, she indicated that several texts could be found in journals such as Chemical Biology, The Lancet Regional Health-Americas, and others of preprint servers for health sciences such as MedRxiv.