President Maduro Urges Population to Get Vaccinated

According to data provided by President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday, October 24, 56% of the Venezuelan population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. In his comments, the head of state urged those who had not already done so to visit a vaccination center, emphasizing the fact that a prior appointment is not required.

“As more people are vaccinated, we will be able to demonstrate more progress, more freedom,” said the president. “I call upon everyone above 18 years of age to visit a vaccination center, without an appointment. There are 858 vaccination centers, fully equipped and open to the entire population. We must protect ourselves, we have the vaccines now, which was the hardest part.”

This month’s goal was to reach a vaccination rate of 70%, while it it is estimated that 95% of the population will be protected by the end of 2021. To facilitate and accelerate the access to vaccines, the Venezuelan government has adopted several measures:

More than 800 vaccination centers are active nationwide. Of these, 40% are in state-run healthcare facilities (316), another 115 are in Integral Diagnostic Centers, 66 are in public clinics, and 34 are in government buildings.
Five thousand educational centers will be utilized as vaccination stations.
In the last month, Venezuela received 2.1 million units of the first and second doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. In total, 3.3 million doses of the Russian vaccine are available to the population.

The Venezuelan President added that the rate of infection has been decreasing. There were 8,439 new cases in the country during the past week, 708 less cases than the previous week, which translates to a 7.7% drop in the transmission. This drop was registered across 11 states: Miranda, Caracas, Mérida, Nueva Esparta, Carabobo, Bolívar, Sucre, Trujillo, Amazonas, and Táchira.

Featured image: President Maduro Urges the Population to Get Vaccinated. Photo courtesy of Misión Verdad.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/KW/SL