Venezuela Begins Immunization Campaign with Chinese Vaccine

Venezuela started Monday the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 with the Chinese vaccine after receiving 500,000 doses on Saturday. Simultaneously, the radical quarantine begins in the South American country after the appearance of the Brazilian strain, which spreads the coronavirus even faster.

The doses of the Chinese vaccine doctors will complete the immunization of essential front-line personnel. The process will begin with teachers, who will begin on-site classes next April.

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Venezuela Receives 500,000 Vaccines From China

The Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, assured that up to this Sunday, 70 percent of the first 100,000 doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik-V, which arrived in the country, have been applied, directed in this first phase mainly to health personnel.

During the weekly balance of the Presidential Commission for the Control and Prevention of COVID-19, the Head of State reiterated that this Monday, when a week of radical quarantine begins, the immunization process with the Chinese vaccines would start. 

He emphasized that he already received the immunization schedule that contemplates starting the progressive vaccination process, this time with the country's teachers.  

"The first generation of vaccine is positive, but not enough. We need to take care of ourselves because you can, once vaccinated, infect other people (...) I trust that science will soon have a second dose of vaccines that can prevent contagion," he added.

On the other hand, Maduro indicated that "we are entering the week of radical quarantine, and we are going to tighten our hand during this week, to say it in a certain way. When I say tighten the hand, it means greater effort, discipline, a greater collaboration of the families, of the community, of the organizations of the People's Power."

"#Venezuela: Chinese vaccine will begin to be applied this week in Venezuela"

The Venezuelan President said that as of this Monday, March 8, the radical week begins, and circumstances forced the suspension of all Women's Day events.

"I gave the order, suspended everything, we are going to do it by videoconference, in a modest way and high biosecurity measures, one year after the pandemic was activated and one year after the first case in Venezuela," he indicated.

"We are going to strengthen protection, discipline, and surveillance measures, with a responsible State and Government and an aware people. In perfect civic-military-police union," Maduro said.

According to the schedule, the Venezuelan president advanced that the immunization of health personnel will continue and progressively to the Ministry of Education teachers.

"This first generation of vaccines is positive, but not enough, we need to get vaccinated in order not to contract the disease, and we need to continue taking care of ourselves because even vaccinated you can infect other people."

Regarding the Brazilian variant, no major cases have been detected yet, but health authorities continue to work on the threat it presents.