Covid-19 closes the crack in Venezuela: they will buy vaccines with frozen funds

The government of Venezuela, who presides Nicolas maduro and the opposition is in talks with the Pan American Health Organization (OPS) for buy vaccines and inoculating six million people with COVID-19, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversations.

About 1.4 million of these are from AstraZeneca Plc and will come from the global Covax mechanism (Center for Global Access to Covid-19 Vaccines), supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), said the people.

The vaccines would be available from March and would be paid for with foreign funds frozen by US sanctions, which cannot be unlocked without the support of the opposition. Although the source of the remaining vaccines remains to be determined, the total cost of the 12 million doses, enough to immunize six million Venezuelans, is approximately US $ 120 millionaccording to two of the people.

Agreement with WHO

Under the terms of the deal, last discussed at a meeting on February 11, PAHO and Unicef ​​will closely monitor the vaccination plan, as well as the refrigeration chain needed to maintain vaccines. within the required temperature range, two people said. Paolo Balladelli, director of the WHO-PAHO mission in Venezuela, said on Twitter that the country is getting closer and closer to accessing coronavirus vaccines.

Health Minister Carlos Alvarado and opposition medical adviser Dr Julio Castro attended the meeting, among others, people said. Alvarado and Castro press officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Funds will be used to buy 12 million doses, sources say

As the government proposes to distribute the vaccines to large public hospitals that are already treating COVID-19 patients, the opposition calls for stricter conditions after clauses of a previous agreement to distribute more than 340,000 antigen tests have not been respected.

So far, Venezuela has reported 131,476 cases of covidus and 1,253 deaths, fewer than most of its regional peers.

The first 100,000 doses, of the 10 million Sputnik-V vaccines purchased by the government, are expected to arrive next week, President Maduro said this week.