On March and April, Polio Vaccination Campaign in Holguin, Cuba
- Written by Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
- Published in Health
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Photo: UniversalmediosThe 59 National Campaign for Oral Polio Vaccination (VAO) will take place during the months of March and April in all Cuban provinces.
In Holguin, a total of 42,827 children will be vaccinated during the two stages of the campaign, said Dr. Clara Fernandez, responsible for the Immunization Program at the Provincial Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
The specialist said that 31 thousand 237 infants from one month old to two years of age, 11 months and 29 days will receive two doses during the two stages, while 11 thousand 590 children until nine years old will take the second oral dosage.
“In its first stage, to be carried out from March 2 and 7, the bivalent oral vaccine will be administered to children throughout the country, while the second stage will take place from April 27 to May 2, after the established dates there will be a week of recovery in both stages with a view to ensuring that the entire child population included in these ages is protected,”said Fernandez.
She pointed out that the two oral doses cannot be administered to any child with fever, vomiting or diarrhea and must wait 30 minutes before and after vaccination to drink water.
According to the specialist, the vaccine should not be used in immunodeficient children.
Yellow fever and smallpox were the only two vaccine-preventable diseases, which were eliminated in Cuba at the Triumph of the Revolution in 1959, but after implementing an accessible and universal vaccination scheme throughout the national territory at the beginning of the ‘60s, six preventable diseases were eliminated, while others have ceased to be a health problem by having rates below 0.1 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
From 1962 to 2019, Cuba has applied about 856 million 700 thousand doses of the polio vaccine, which has guaranteed protection against this terrible condition to the Cuban population under 72 years.
