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Venezuela to receive COVAX vaccines in coming days, Maduro says

Caracas, Venezuela
Reuters

Venezuela will receive 6.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines through the COVAX initiative “in the coming days”, President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, potentially speeding up an inoculation campaign well behind regional peers.

COVAX vaccines

A pack of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines is seen as the country receives its first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines under COVAX scheme, at the international airtport of Accra, Ghana on 24th February. PICTURE: Reuters/Francis Kokoroko/File photo

The announcement comes after the GAVI alliance, which co-runs the facility along with the World Health Organization, said in early July that COVAX had received payments from the South American country after Venezuelan officials said some payments were blocked by a bank due to US sanctions.

Maduro had given COVAX an “ultimatum” to send the doses or return the funds Venezuela has already paid. 

Venezuela will receive doses of China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines through the initiative, according to the Pan-American Health Organization, the regional arm of the WHO. The country has so far been administering Sinopharm, Russia’s Sputnik-V, and Cuba’s Abdala vaccines. 

The country of some 28 million inhabitants has reported 305,766 cases and 3,591 deaths, official data show. It had administered some 2.2 million doses as of 14th July, according to PAHO. Reuters data show Venezuela has fully vaccinated 3.9% of the population, among the lowest rates in Latin America.

 

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