President Maduro: ‘Venezuela Has Vaccinated More than 11% of the Population’ Without COVAX (+Ultimatum)

On Sunday, July 4, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, informed that to date 2 million 508 thousand 201 people have been vaccinated in the country, representing 11.4% of the population.

During his speech on the weekly report of the fight against COVID-19, President Maduro stressed that 11.4% of the population has already been vaccinated, and the country is on the path to vaccinate 20% of its citizens very soon.

”We already have the vaccines to advance to our next goal, which is to vaccinate 20% of the population,” said the head of state.

President Maduro affirmed that during July, August and September, the mass vaccination program will accelerate to reach 300,000, 400,000 and 500,000 vaccinations daily in the country.

On the other hand, he repudiated that the COVAX-GAVI system has not yet sent the vaccines that were paid for months ago.

El sistema COVAX le ha fallado a Venezuela, indicó el Pdte. @NicolasMaduro y de no haber respuesta en los próximos días el Gobierno Bolivariano solicitará el reintegro de los recursos depositados al Fondo de Acceso Global para Vacunas COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/srjiBSq5PM

— Prensa Presidencial (@PresidencialVen) July 4, 2021

Ultimatum to COVAX-GAVI
”We complied—months ago we paid them in full, working wonders to free our resources that the US and Europe had blocked… but COVAX has failed Venezuela,” decried the president.

President Maduro informed that he has instructed the Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to give the COVAX-GAVI consortium an ultimatum this week, ”either they send us the vaccines or they return our money.”

He added that if COVAX returns the funds, Venezuela has already spoken with other international institutions to acquire new vaccines.

In April the Venezuelan government completed the required payment to COVAX; however, one of the transfers was blocked by a bank in Switzerland, and allegedly this has stopped the shipment of the vaccines.

Weeks ago, COVAX had informed the Venezuelan government about the blocking of the last transfer. However, although about 90% of the payment has already been processed and accepted by the COVAX Fund, it has not sent any vaccine to Venezuela; nor has it returned the money to the State.

In this regard, the president said that ”they have not given us any reply.” Although Vice President Rodríguez has made the necessary contacts with COVAX everyday to obtain information since the transfer was made eight weeks ago, there has been no satisfactory response from the Fund.

Acceleration in the mass vaccination process
Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez informed that the vaccination process in the country is accelerating, and that the country already has enough doses to immunize 20% of the population.

#DATO | Venezuela se ha fijado la meta de tener para el mes de octubre el 70% de la población vacunada contra la COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/8CMUHuGda6

— Prensa Presidencial (@PresidencialVen) July 4, 2021

She added that the call for vaccination is made through the Patria system, and once the person arrives at the immunization center, it is checked if they had been summoned and then they get their dose.

After the vaccination gets done, volunteer workers of the Somos Venezuela brigade add the information as a QR code to the online system, which the vaccinated person can verify from the Patria website. They can also take a print out of the vaccination certificate from the same website, if necessary.

”We thank the Venezuelan Red Cross that has joined us to help in this mass vaccination plan of the Venezuelan government,” said the vice president.

Featured image: A COVAX-GAVI tag on a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra. Photo by Nipah Dennis / AFP via Getty Images.

(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SC