Less than 1% of Venezuela’s population has so far been vaccinated. According to Enrique López-Loyo, the President of Venezuela’s National Academy of Medicine, it may take a decade for 70% of the population to be immunized unless the current pace of vaccination is accelerated.
“To control the pandemic in our country, we need to vaccinate around 70% of the adult population, nearly 15 million people, in as little time as possible. The amount of vaccines that have arrived in Venezuela … represents less than 10% of what Venezuela needs,” the independent National Academy of Medicine said in an announcement.
The academy had put forward a range of recommendations that the government failed to take into account.
The Venezuelan government hopes to receive enough vaccines from the UN-led platform COVAX to vaccinate 5 million people. The first installment of US$64 million has been transferred and a second is on its way, said the Pan American Health Organization which intermediates negotiations between COVAX and the Venezuelan government.
As well as this, President Nicolas Maduro has announced that Venezuela will soon receive the single-dose Russian Sputnik Light vaccine which had been authorized by the Russian administration. Maduro pledged that the vaccination process would speed up.
“In May vaccination will accelerate and have widespread growth and June, July and August will be the months of a vaccination offensive,” said Maduro in a live broadcast on state-run television. Maduro added that his government was planning to vaccinate 70% of the population by August 2021.
The National Academy of Medicine has also made an effort to introduce more vaccines into the country by sending an official request to the United States asking for Venezuela to be added to its international donors list despite the political freeze between two countries and the sanctions imposed by Washington on the regime.
As of 17 May, the government disclosed that Venezuela has recorded 215,301 cases and 2,396 deaths since March 2020 when the pandemic broke out. However, Enrique López-Loyo said that official data should be multiplied by eight to ten to reflect the real state of affairs as Venezuela has undertaken very few tests, achieving between 2,500 – 3,000 tests daily by the end of 2020. Maduro’s administration has based its policy on mainly introducing and lifting lockdowns and restrictions, setting more “flexible” weeks when some businesses can open and more “radical” when the majority are closed.
