CUBA, February 27, 2009. Nearly 500,000 children will be immunized as of Friday during the national vaccination campaign against poliomyelitis that declared the country free of such disease since 1962. Some 338,210 under three-year-old toddlers will receive two oral doses during the first stage, to be run until March 5. Doctor Marlen Valcarcel, responsible for the National Immunization Program, told press that those children will receive the second doses April 24 through 30, and also in the same date, the vaccine will be reactivated for 137,322 nine-year-old children. Cuba started the anti-polio campaign in 1962, and over 77 million doses have been administrated since then, so all Cuban population under 62 years old is currently protected against that disease. According to statistics, the polio disease has provoked 1,162 cases of paralysis and death in the country between 1957 and 1961. The Cuban Immunization Program consists of 11 vaccines, including eight that are made in Cuba. (Cubaminrex- ACN) |