Venezuela Receives 200,000 Sputnik V Vaccines

As part of cooperation agreements signed by President Nicolas Maduro with Russia to combat the pandemic, Venezuelan authorities on Monday received 200,000 Sputnik V vaccines that will be used to provide a second dose to citizens.

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This vaccine shipment, which is the second that Venezuela has received so far this month, arrived at the Maiquetia Airport boarding a plane of national airline Conviasa.

“The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is one of the safest and most effective in the world,” Russian Ambassador to Venezuela Sergio Melik-Bagdasarov stressed, recalling that this vaccine proved to be 94,8 percent effective in clinical trials.

On Dec. 2020, Venezuelan authorities bought 10 million Sputnik V vaccines to Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Thanks to this agreement, Venezuela has already received over 1,630,000 doses.

In addition to the Sputnik V vaccine, the Maduro administration has acquired 693,600 doses of China's Sinovac vaccines, 1,8 billion Sinopharm vaccines, and expects to receive 12 million Abdala vaccines from Cuba soon.

These COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed free of charge to the entire population, including foreign residents in this country. To speed up immunization, the Bolivarian government also opened 452 new vaccination centers nationwide. 

"Our purpose is to have 70 percent of the population immunized by October. The arrival of new vaccines makes us very optimistic,” Maduro stressed.

As of Sunday, 11,1 million COVID-19 vaccines doses have been administrated in Venezuela, and 15 percent of the population have been fully immunized against the disease.