Havana, Cuba.- The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) announced today that it postpones the period of reactivation of the polio vaccine, as part of the usual immunization campaign against that disease, which takes place in late April. .

The decision of the health entity is due to the current epidemiological situation in the country, associated with the confrontation with Covid-19, explained in a press conference Francisco Durán, national director of that specialty.

Since 1962, Cuba has carried out a vaccination campaign against polio, a disease that was eradicated in this country in that same year.

Since then, the annual programs have been carried out uninterruptedly in two stages, one for children between 30 days old and two years, 11 months and 29 days, while the second stage includes the same universe of infants and nine-year-olds.

The 59th Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccination Campaign began on March 2 last. This year, the immunization of 461 thousand 994 children is planned in both stages, according to data from the Minsap.

The Cuban immunization program, accessible to the entire population and free, includes protection against 13 diseases, eight of them produced in Cuba.

Flu vaccination will also be carried out later, aimed at immunizing people from the highest risk groups such as adults aged 85 and over, institutionalized people in nursing homes, grandparents’ homes and psychopedagogical centers.

Likewise, all pregnant women, asthmatics and diabetics between the ages of 18 to 24 years, patients with chronic renal failure, infantile cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis.