Covid-19 vaccine approved for toddlers after recovery
Cuba has given emergency authorization for its locally-made Soberana vaccine to be given to children from the age of two who have already had the coronavirus.
The shots will be administered to toddlers and convalescent patients in other age groups at least two months after recovery from Covid-19, CECMED medical agency announced on Tuesday.
According to the regulator, the move was based on the early results of clinical trials of Soberana Plus in children who have recovered.
They show that “the administration of a single dose is safe” and holds “potential benefits” for protection against reinfection.
Soberana Plus has been developed by the country’s Finlay Institute as a third booster shot for its two-dose Soberana 02 and Cuba’s other vaccine, Abdala.
The booster has shown 91.2% efficacy in combination with Soberana 02, and 92.28% in those who had earlier received two Abdala doses, the Cuban authorities said this summer.
The island nation has been injecting children from the age of two with Soberana 02 and Abdala since September.
The communist country, which has a long history of developing vaccines locally due to harsh US sanctions in place for decades, has already fully vaccinated 9.2 million of its population of 11.2 million with three doses. Deliveries of the fourth shot kicked off earlier this week.
