40 medical and academic organizations denounced to the UN that Maduro uses COVID-19 vaccines as a method of extortion

In a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle bachelet, 40 medical and academic organizations denounced the discrimination in COVID-19 vaccination in Venezuela.

“As Venezuelan civil society organizations we want to share our concern with you before the recent human rights violations that took place in the country, in particular, to the rights to life, to health, to non-discrimination and to equity in access to services, in the context of COVID-19 ″, begins the letter .

They claimed that on May 12 “was denounced, with testimonies and photographic records, which in one day for the vaccination against COVID-19, to be carried out at the vaccination post, located in the hospital town of Dr. Enrique Tejera, in the city of Valencia, state of Carabobo, Doctors and the elderly were not vaccinated because they were not registered in the Patria system”.

“After waiting several hours, the staff in charge of this day placed a notice, outside the facilities, in which compulsory to be vaccinated, the aforementioned registration. For the purposes of executing this decision police officers were seconded to the scene“He added.

The 40 organizations recalled in the letter that they had jointly signed that in Venezuela there is a similar history when it was intended to require the document entitled “Patria notebook“In other vaccination campaigns.

“On September 7, 2017, within the framework of the Expanded Program of Vaccinations, the Vice-President of the Republic in office, Tareck El Aisami, declared: “More than 2 million vaccines have been administered to 1 million people, this by the National Vaccination Plan. There are 15,319 vaccination points across the country, so if you or a family member needs a vaccination, free of charge, with the national card you will receive the vaccine‘. This measure was suspended after the Venezuelan Society of Child Care and Pediatrics rejected these statements and sent communications to the same vice-president, the mediator and the national public in which asked them to abandon the implementation of the measure announced“He continued.

Returning to what happened just a few days ago, medical and academic organizations pointed out that the health personnel and the elderly who mobilized at the vaccination post located in the hospital town of Dr. Enrique Tejera, they did it for different reasons, “The first, because, although being considered as belonging to the first and second of the priority groups, the first phase of the vaccination process began on 02/18/2021 (…), 101 days after the start of vaccination, there are still some of these staff who have not been vaccinated. The second, for learning that some elderly people residing in Carabobo state had been ordered to be vaccinated and that this information was disseminated via social networks ”.

In the letter, the 40 complainant associations told Bachelet that the information described “aims to provide you with elements allowing you to contextualize the specific situation of the events that have occurred that motivate this communication, linked to the fact that the members of the health personnel of the State of Carabobo – which could be extended to the rest of the health personnel of the country who work, in the public and private sectors in Venezuela – claim your right to be vaccinated, and that this right be guaranteed in the order of priority established in the above-mentioned document which has not yet been published or disclosed ”.

Then they indicate that “the situation of health workers is separate from that of the elderly, with regard to vaccination against COVID-19, because in the case of health workers, there is no evidence that the selection criteria to be vaccinated is linked to the use of the Homeland System or to the requirement of the Homeland Card ”.

However, they indicate that “Failure to meet the vaccination target in the above-mentioned document has negative consequences for health personnel residing in Venezuela.”. And, to demonstrate it, they indicate: “According to the epidemiological update of coronavirus diseases (COVID-19), published by PAHO, On February 9, 2021, these personnel occupied the highest position in the COVID-19 death rate, 7.21%, 14.5 times the average of the total, among the countries of the American continent, with the aggravating circumstance that this situation occurs in a context of non-compliance with the prioritization of beneficiary groups for vaccination against COVID-19, due to the greater risk of exposure, which appears transcribed in the aforementioned document, a example is this, it is the case of parliamentarians of the National Assembly elected in 2020 and members of the Executive Cabinet, who although being located in the order of priorities 17, were vaccinated well before the scheduled call”.

“To this context is added the non-existence, to date, of an Official Vaccination Plan, and the sending of circulars by the authorities of the Ministry of People’s Power for Health, as annexed to this communication, where it is said that for the first phase of vaccinationthe priority group is represented by FIRST-LINE HEALTH WORKERS who work in sentinel centers for the care and treatment of patients with SARS-CoV-2 ′; and that “later, other priority vulnerable groups and the rest of the population will be addressed” ”.

Then they return that everything described is happening under “limited vaccine availability, as the number of doses that have entered the country so far does not exceed 2,240,000.

By virtue of “his high position” – they say to Bachelet – “We ask for your essential intervention and good offices so that in addition to expressing his concern about what has been said in these lines, he can make concrete and immediate proposals to the Venezuelan State so that it can adopt effective and timely measures ”.

Actions requested by organizations should aim to:

– Respect the human rights of the Venezuelan population in general and, in particular, the right to life, to health, to non-discrimination, to equality and to equity.

– approve and disseminate as a matter of urgency, by the administrative act it deems appropriate, andl Official COVID-19 vaccination plan for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the development of which must respect the basic principles of the values ​​framework for the allocation and prioritization of vaccination against COVID-19 of the Group of Experts on Strategic Advice of the World Health Organization.

– Adequately protect population groups disproportionately burdened by COVID-19, and that for this reason they are classified as priority, among which the health personnel constitutes the first priority.

– Effectively achieve the national COVID-19 vaccination target, composed of 22,820,000 people.

The complete letter

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