Cuban infants of two, four and six months old will be happier to get fewer shots with Heberpenta, a cocktail of tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and hemophilia influenza (meningitis) vaccines.

Public health care programs are a priority in Cuba, and such preventable diseases kill or maim four million children in other developing countries every year, NGO Save the Children reports.

This co-production of the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and Havana's University Center for Synthetic Antigens makes Cuba the first to own the vaccine in the Third World, second in the entire world only to France.

Its distribution will add value to Cuban biotechnological production and help reduce the cost of the national immunization program.

The World Health Organization estimates 250,000 annual world fatalities form Hepatitis B and in 450,000 from Haemophilus influenza, source of meningitis.

Source: Prensa Latina