Cuba starts vaccinating children in order to re-open schools amid Covid surge

Cuban authorities on Friday launched a national campaign to vaccinatechildrenaged two to 18 againstCovid-19, a condition set by the Communist government inorderto reopenschoolsfor in-person instructionamida spike in infections.

Childrenaged 12 and older will be the first to receive one of the twodomestically produced vaccines, Abdala and Soberana, followed by younger kids.

Schoolshave mostly been closed inCubasince March 2020 and students have been following lessons on television. With theschoolyear starting Monday, they will continue learning remotely until all eligiblechildrenare vaccinated.

Laura Lantigua, 17, came to receive the first of three injections at Saul Delgado highschoolin the Cuban capital Havana.

"I always wanted to be vaccinated," Lantigua told AFP. She said that doctors measured her blood pressure and temperature before giving her the shot, then told her to wait for an hour to make sure she didn't have any side effects.

"I felt normal, fine," Lantigua said.

As the Delta variant spread across the island of 11.2 million the country's health care system has been pushed to the brink.

Of the 5,300 novel coronavirus deaths recorded since the outbreak started, nearly half were in August, as were almost a third of all reported cases.

The government said it plans to begin to graduallyre-openschoolsin October after the vaccination campaign amongchildrenis completed.