Cuba Submits Request for Use of Anti-COVID Vaccines in Pediatric Population

Cuba’s anti-Covid-19 immunization in the pediatric population, currently planned for children from three to 18 years of age, could include two-year-olds, announced scientific authorities.

Dr. Vicente Vérez, director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV), the leading institution in developing three of the five Cuban vaccine proposals against Covid-19, made the announcement in the television program Mesa Redonda (Round Table).

We submitted the request to the regulatory authority to extend the authorization for emergency use to the pediatric population from two to 18 years of age, and for that, we need 4.2 million doses in the country, which are in production at the moment, which should be finished around September 15,’ he said.

He assured that there is scientific evidence of a better performance of the Soberana 02 vaccine plus a booster dose of Soberana PLUS in children than in adults.

Referring to the Soberana Pediatrics clinical trial, which includes a vaccination scheme with these two proposals, Dr. Vérez highlighted the satisfactory results obtained so far.

After applying the first two doses of Soberana 02 and measuring the antibody titers after 14 days in adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, ‘almost 93 percent responded significantly, and only seven percent remained below the levels,’ he explained.

Soberana Pediatrics included 350 volunteers aged three to 18 years in Havana.

Cuba is also developing another clinical trial in the pediatric population with the Abdala vaccine from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), in which 592 minors from the province of Camagüey are participating.