Venezuela Pays More Than 50% of the Covax Plan to Access the Anticovid Vaccines

Caracas,.- The Government of Venezuela announced this Saturday that it managed to deposit more than 50% of the Covax mechanism, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), to acquire the vaccines against covid-19 that it offers this program, and explained that the country had presented delays in payment due to the “blocking of resources.”

“The Government of President Nicolás Maduro, through the diplomatic and legal efforts deployed at the international level, has already managed to consign 50%, something more, of the Covax mechanism,” said the Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, in a press appearance .

As indicated, the amount canceled was 59.2 million Swiss francs, that is, about 64 million dollars out of a total of 119,999,920 million dollars.
“The other 60 million dollars required for the Covax mechanism are already guaranteed and, in due course, when appropriate, Venezuela will also cancel this much-needed amount,” he added.

The vice president did not explain how the payment was made, despite the fact that she has denounced on several occasions that the Venezuelan government has blocked 7,000 million dollars in countries such as the United States that do not recognize Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela and that for that reason it had not been been able to cancel the mechanism.

He explained that on Friday he received a “communication” from the person in charge of the Covax plan for Latin America, Santiago Cornepo, in which he informed him about the approval of the transaction.
“These funds will be used as part of the initial payment to the mechanism and for the purchase of a vaccine against covid-19 approved” by Venezuela, said Rodríguez when reading the text he received.

Rodríguez recalled that on September 18, the Minister of Health of his country, Carlos Alvarado, signed a commitment with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to access 11,374,400 doses for vaccines and immunize 20% of the population Venezuelan.

He also reiterated that they will continue working to achieve the release of resources and asked the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to put “his hand on his heart” and lift the sanctions against the country because Venezuela “is going through a humanitarian situation” derived, according to he said, of these measures and the pandemic.
The payment of the Covax plan was being managed by the Venezuelan opposition, according to the leader Juan Guaidó, whom the United States recognizes as interim president.

According to Guaidó, the opposition was going to ask the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for a license to access the funds and pay for the plan.
Venezuela accumulated 172,461 cases of covid-19 and 1,739 deaths as of Friday.