In a second phase, from June 15 to 20, they will receive their second dose, and nine-year-olds will receive a booster dose during this period.

Polio is an infectious disease that affects the central nervous system, primarily in children, and can cause muscle atrophy, paralysis, deformity, and in some cases, death.

Cuba was the first country in Latin America to eradicate the disease, and this first campaign had the overall objective of controlling the incidence of the disease and, specifically, immunizing 2,567,803 children under 15 years old—35 percent of the country’s total population—with two doses of the polio vaccine.

Two million, two hundred and sixteen thousand and twenty-two children under the age of 15 were immunized, representing 86.2 percent coverage, according to official figures.

Polio appeared in our Caribbean nation at the end of the 19th century, and from 1932 to 1962, 413,000 infections and 430 deaths were recorded.

The country suffered five major epidemics of this ancient disease, which is estimated to have begun affecting the world more than three thousand years ago, in 1934, 1942, 1946, 1952, and 1955.

Currently, as part of the childhood immunization program, 11 vaccines against 13 diseases are administered in the country, and eight of them are produced domestically.

jdt/jav/mem/alb