Venezuela Denounces Obstacles To Access COVID-19 Vaccines

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday denounced the blocking of resources by international banks and western nations against the country to prevent the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines, noting the moves are in line with the U.S. unilateral sanctions.

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The Venezuelan assets to buy COVID-19 vaccines "have been stolen and frozen by the U.K, Portugal, Spain, and the U.S.," Maduro pointed out, recalling that his administration has made numerous requests to access those resources through the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Previously, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requested that the vaccines should be considered a public good. At the international level, however, that is not happening so far.

"The vaccine cannot be the object of savage mercantilism," Maduro said and called on the UN to pay attention to the vaccine distribution to guarantee access opportunities to people from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

On Monday, Venezuela re-implemented the intermittent quarantine system known as "7x7", which consists of alternating 7 days with epidemiological restrictions with 7 days of relaxation of health measures.

After that announcement, Maduro mentioned that a contract was signed with Russia for the purchase of 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which will arrive in the first half of 2021.

He also offered an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. There were 4,928 active cases as of January 3, while the highest tallies of active cases in December were recorded in Zulia, Yaracuy, Miranda, the Capital District, La Guaira, Lara, Merida, and Carabobo.

Rejecting the fact that the corporate media do not recognize the successes of the Venezuelan 7x7 model, he pointed out that it "should be worthy of study and dissemination for countries that have this serious problem in the pandemic."