ACIS-M Urges Solidarity Movements in the Pan-African World & Friends across the world to, on Thursday, June 17, 2021, (14hrs Nigeria Time) participate in this virtual event in Solidarity with Cuba and against the US Criminal Blockade. You can follow on FB Siempre con CUBA - website of ICAP (Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples)!
*🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺*BE INFORMED*🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺!
*Over 578 Thousand Cubans Have Been Fully Vaccinated with a COVID-19 Vaccine!
Cuba is once again in the news for its fight against the pandemic. This morning Cuban President Miguel Diaz- Canel released figures from the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reporting that 578,835 Cubans, from across the country, are now fully vaccinated against Covid -19 after having received all three doses of either Abdala or Soberana 2. This comes three months after starting its immunization campaign, showing the island’s vaccination indicators are now well above the world average.
According to MINSAP, from March 8 to June 11, 1,930,901 people received at least one dose of the Soberana 02 and Abdala which means that 17.3 percent of the Cuban population has already been immunized against the deadly disease.
In that same period, the average of the world’s population vaccinated with at least one dose was 12.5 percent, according to a study by Oxford University’s World in Data. Low-income countries accounted for 0.8 percent of that figure.
The results of the immunization campaign on the island are encouraging. Health authorities assured two doses of Soberana 02 produce antibodies in 80 percent of those vaccinated. The immune response rises to 100 percent after the third dose, “Soberana Plus”.
In May, the island reached a mortality rate of 60 deaths per million inhabitants, which places it among the countries least affected by the pandemic. While the world is scrambling for the few vaccines on the market, which end up in the arms of citizens of the wealthiest countries, Cuba is moving towards full immunization of its population by 2021.
However, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned that there is still a long way to go and warned that in the next few days, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country could increase. While Havana has had a slight epidemiological improvement, thanks to the progress of the immunization campaign in the capital, the rest of the island could experience a jump in contagions.
“We are not doing things right. The population needs to raise the risk perception. Vaccines alone will not put an end to COVID-19 transmission, so we need to continue to strictly comply with health measures,” the president said during a government meeting attended by local authorities from each province.
The new strains of COVID-19 are generating greater transmission at a faster rate, but this is not the only cause of the increase in contagions. “Many citizens are becoming overconfident because the country is immersed in the vaccination campaign and are not complying with the curfew, social distancing, correct use of face masks, and other measures imposed by the government,” Health Minister Jose Angel Portal informed.
On Tuesday, Cuba registered 1,537 new cases, the highest number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. “The virus is having a high contagiousness in the country,” Health Ministry epidemiological Director Francisco Duran warned.
Authorities are also alarmed by the high number of infections being reported among Cuban children and adolescents. In the last 24 hours, 263 children under the age of 20 were diagnosed with the disease, bringing to 40,000 the number of pediatric-aged patients who have been infected with COVID-19 since 2020.
The increase of children in hospital centers due to the virus prompted the Ministry of Health to include them in the clinical trial phase of Soberana 02. This Monday, 25 volunteers between 12 and 18 years old received the first dose of the Cuban vaccine developed by the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV).
Cuba is the only country worldwide that is giving equal priority to the elderly, people with underlying diseases, and minors. “In these months of struggle, the government has joined forces with the Cuban biotechnology industry.
No one will be left helpless, everyone matters. We are not stopping in our quest to have the entire population protected from this new threat,” Díaz-Canel clarified.
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