Featured image: Venezuelan woman being vaccinated against COVID-19. File photo.
The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced that 1.3 million new COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the country from China, which would help to accelerate mass vaccination in the country.
During his speech this Sunday, May 23, the president clarified that a new phase of vaccination will start this week, with the aim to get 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of August.
“This week, a new phase of vaccination starts in the country; 1,300,000 new vaccines arrived in Venezuelans from China. More vaccines are arriving this week, and even more doses are yet to come,” he stated in his Sunday address.
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The head of state expressed hope that a more normal life—both at personal and at economic levels—can start towards the end of the year, given that June, July and August will be “the months of offensive” in the vaccination drive against COVID-19.
“We are thus going to continue advancing with great hope that in the months of June, July and August we will advance in the vaccination plan, in a definitive way, to take care of our people,” added the president.
For his part, the Minister for Health, Carlos Alvarado, affirmed that with the new vaccine doses that arrived in the country, the priority sectors for vaccination will be expanded.
Alvarado indicated that the new phase of vaccinations will start with health personnel, of whom more than 90% are already vaccinated. Then it will be the turn of senior citizens over 60 years of age and people suffering from other diseases.
The minister explained that with these new vaccines, people under 60 years of age and with more than two chronic health conditions can be included for vaccination, as these people are prone to complications in case of being infected with the SARS COV-2 virus.
¡En Revolución la salud es sagrada! Debemos avanzar en la recuperación y expansión de todos los servicios de salud del país, expresó el Pdte. @NicolasMaduro pic.twitter.com/bId7KqjV3l
— Prensa Presidencial (@PresidencialVen) May 23, 2021
In addition, the new phase will include social workers who have to continue their work during the radical quarantine, and also HIV patients and those who are suffering from kidney problems.
“With these new vaccines we are going to expand what we have been doing,” continued Alvarado. “We started with health personnel, of whom more than 90% have already been vaccinated; then we have moved to adults over 60 years of age and we have progressively incorporated these sectors. We will continue in the same path with these new vaccines.”
Featured image: Venezuelan woman being vaccinated against COVID-19. File photo.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
