Venezuela consigned half of the payment to the COVAX system to access vaccines

Venezuela consigned half of the payment to the COVAX system in order to access coronavirus vaccines, equivalent to about $ 64 millionVice President Delcy Rodríguez said this Saturday amid the rise in infections and deaths.

The government of President Nicolás Maduro has said that due to the United States sanctions there are resources frozen abroad and had not been able to access them to make the first payment to the Global Access Fund for COVID-19 Vaccines or COVAX (for its acronym in English), which guarantees vaccines to developing countries.

“The good news that we have to give the people of Venezuela today is that the government of President Nicolás Maduro, through all the diplomatic and legal efforts deployed at the international level, has already managed to consign 50% and a little more of the mechanism COVAX ”, the vice president said in statements to state television.

The official pointed out when reading a communication that 59.2 million Swiss francs were transferred, equivalent to 64 million dollars.

The payment “is part of the advance that Venezuela is giving to this important mechanism to access 20% and guarantee 20% of the vaccination,” said Rodríguez. He did not explain the origin of the resources or how he managed to mobilize the funds.

Venezuela has received 500,000 vaccines from the Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm and 250,000 from the Russian Sputnik V, according to the authorities, who have said that they have administered 200,000 to health personnel, while medical unions and science academies highlight the urgency of bringing vaccines to the rise of infections.

The opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, recently said that the OFAC license to be able to pay for access to the COVAX system is “in progress”.

Venezuela registered a total of 172,461 coronavirus cases and 1,739 deaths on Friday, according to official data. Medical unions point out that the number of cases of infection is higher.

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