By Dave Sherwood and Marc Frank
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba’s broad vaccine coverage against Covid-19 and an early move to immunize its children have proved critical in combating the highly infectious Omicron variant before it even takes hold on the island, say local and international experts.
Ômicron arrived in Cuba in December but fell far short of the sharp rise in cases seen in many other places, and infections have dropped by more than 80% since then, official data show.
Deaths remained around 10% or less of their peak along the Omicron wave, according to a Reuters tally.
Overall, Omicron proved to be much more infectious than the Delta variant, but also less likely to cause serious illness. Thus, the increase in the number of cases could be an explanation for the increase in hospitalizations in many countries, say the scientists.
Virologist Amilcar Perez Riverol said that while case numbers vary widely from country to country depending on the rate of testing, it appears that Ômicron had a hard time establishing itself in Cuba or causing death or serious illness.
“It appears that Omicron will not have nearly the impact that Delta has had in Cuba, or even the impact it is having in other countries, nor will it exert the pressure on the hospital system as in other countries,” Perez Riverol told Reuters.
Young children in particular have become vulnerable to the spread of Omicron in many countries, as some vaccines, including those produced by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, have yet to be approved by global regulators for children under 5.
Cuba, whose communist rulers have long sought to stand out among developing countries by providing a free healthcare system focused on preventive treatment such as vaccines, has developed its own Covid vaccines and has become the first country in the world to start vaccinating in mass of children from 2 years old.
Since then, health workers on the Caribbean island have fully immunized 1.8 million children and young people between the ages of 2 and 18, or more than 96% of the total, with no reported serious side effects, according to official Cuban data.
Eduardo Martínez, president of the state-owned pharmaceutical company BioCubaFarma, said the campaign highlighted Cuba in the fight against Ômicron. “In other parts of the world, the virus is circulating more in the pediatric population, but this is not happening in Cuba,” he said.
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