Cienfuegos.–Two clinical trials of Cuban anti-COVID-19 vaccines with children under two years of age are set to begin, in the central province of Cienfuegos, where conditions have been created to conduct a rigorous study.
In a recent broadcast of the Mesa Redonda Cuban television program, Dr. Dagmar García Rivera, Director of Research at the Finlay Vaccine Institute, reported that only 3% of the country’s pediatric population remains to be vaccinated, fundamentally children under two years of age - thus the importance of the intervention study and clinical trials.
The Paquito González Cueto Provincial Pediatric Hospital will be one of the sites – along with the Juan Manuel Márquez, in Havana – for the Soberana Futuro vaccine clinical trials, with infants between seven and 11 months of age, according to Dr. Layrí García Ríos, director of the Cienfuegos institution, speaking with the press.
Darehyne Ávila Piña, the Provincial Vaccination Program’s lead doctor, based at the Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology of Cienfuegos, noted that staff here are awaiting national approval to begin anti-COVID-19 vaccination in children between the ages of 12 months and one year, 11 months, 29 days, with a regimen of Soberana 02 (two doses) and Soberana Plus as a third dose. The study, including a total of 114,434 children under two years of age is to be labeled “Soberana Chiquitines” and conducted in conjunction with the Finlay Vaccine Institute.
"Everything has been organized and the vaccines have been delivered to all selected polyclinics, ready when authorization arrives," she added.
