From this Monday, Venezuela will be up to date with the COVAX system to access COVID-19 vaccines.
President Nicolás Maduro confirmed that Venezuela has arranged for the payment of the second and last installment for the COVAX mechanism of the World Health Organization to have access to the vaccines.
“I can assure that in the coming week, the remainder of the total payment of $120 million for the COVAX system will be completed; so Venezuela will have complied with its responsibilities,” said the president.
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Venezuela will receive about 10 million doses through this system that is sponsored by WHO to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The initiative is a huge logistical operation that seeks to alleviate the gigantic difference between vaccination rates in wealthy countries and poorer countries.
To pay the COVAX fee, President Maduro confirmed that the government and the financial authorities had to carry out a great maneuver of financial intelligence and discretion. He stressed that the severity of the criminal blockade imposed by the United States against Venezuela includes US pressure on pharmaceutical companies not to sell the vaccine to Venezuela.
Regarding the money that has been paid to COVAX, the president said that “they are resources obtained through sacrifices, resources released from the blockade. We have been able to free those resources thanks to the professional, scientific and technical work of the Central Bank of Venezuela.”
This economic feat in the midst of an illegal blockade is a triumph over the siege. It is also a dent in the blockade, made possible by the Venezuelan spirit of innovation that is trying to nagivate through the difficulties, which allows it to have a good idea about the reach and the vulnerabilities of the US financial power and the alternatives to advance despite the blockade, taking advantage of those vulnerabilities.
The president celebrated this step as a national triumph, “without begging anyone for anything, without falling for false and fraudulent offers from the Trumpist right.”
Featured image: STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(RedRadioVE) by Carlos Arellán
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
