Cuba has become the first nation in the world to start mass immunization of toddlers as young as age 2 against COVID-19 with its locally-produced vaccines.
While the vaccination are not compulsory, parents and their kids have been lining up in clinics, hospitals and even schools converted into inoculation sites to get the vaccines for their children.
The initiative comes in response to a recent surge in infections, which prompted Cuban health authorities to suspend earlier plans to reopen schools this month.
During a single day at a polyclinic in the capital city of Havana, more than 230 children ages 3 to 5 received the vaccine, according to the clinic's administrator. CNN and other news groups were there to witness the immunizations.
Some 117,500 minors have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Cuba, CNN reported. Children as young as 2 are eligible to get the treatment. The children are required to get three shots before they're considered fully inoculated.
"It is alarming the number of COVID-19 cases that have occurred in Cuba in the last couple of months in the pediatric population," Cuban Health Minister Jose Portal Miranda said.
Cuban health officials say the country's domestically produced vaccines have been found safe for young children.
"We would not put (babies) even at a minimal risk if the vaccines weren't proven safe and effective," Aurolis Otano, director of the Vedado Polyclinic University, said in quotes by The Associated Press.
To make them comfortable, physicians and nurses donned Mickey Mouse ears and even brought in a clown to perform for them and ease their anxiety. Parents have been encouraged to vaccinate their children.
"We are calling on the Cuban family to vaccinate their sons and daughters. We have a vaccine that is 100% Cuban," Cuba's Vice Minister of Education Eugenio González Pérez said, according to CNN.
At least 117,500 children have been diagnosed with the virus in Cuba, official statistics show. The Cuban government has not disclosed the actual number of children who have died in the country during the pandemic.
