Venezuela began on Saturday a massive vaccination day against the coronavirus, in principle aimed at adults over 60 years of age who have diseases and are registered in the state registration platforms, said the Minister of Health.
The start of the plan comes as the oil nation experiences a second wave of coronavirus cases with a weak health system and vaccination that is slower than neighboring countries.
The highest health authority reported that the inoculations will begin among people affiliated with government aid systems, such as the so-called Homeland or holders of a “homeland card.”
Opposition leaders describe the identification system promoted by President Nicolás Maduro, different from the identity card, as a mechanism of social control.
“To be selected for vaccination, you only have to be registered in the homeland system (…) The system can take you as eligible when making a random selection,” said the Minister of Health, Carlos Alvarado, in a speech on TV Friday night.
The official pointed out that people will receive a message on their mobile phone with the details of the appointment to receive the dose, but did not specify which vaccines they will be given.
In the morning hours, the state television showed a small group of elderly people waiting for the vaccine in a room of a state hotel in Caracas. In the border city of San Fernando de Apure, more adults lined up near a health center and said in front of the cameras that they were summoned the night before.
The government plans to distribute around 1.3 million doses in some 27 vaccination posts throughout the country, without specifying where they will be located and how long they will be in operation. The intention, according to the minister, is to vaccinate some 22 million people through the state registry before the end of the year.
A few weeks ago, the health authorities had begun to vaccinate part of the health personnel, with the first doses of Russian and Chinese vaccines that arrived in the country.
In the year, the government has received some 2.7 million vaccines from Russia and China, including a last batch sent by the Red Cross of China, according to information from the Ministry of Health.
People who are not registered in the state system for the allocation of subsidies Patria, may register on the website of the Ministry of Health to request to be vaccinated, added Alvarado. In the early hours of Saturday that option was not yet available on the agency’s website on the Internet.
Venezuela still hopes to get an additional 11 million vaccines through the COVAX system, after it made a first payment in April to the mechanism that provides doses against the coronavirus to poor nations. The government’s intention is to receive single-dose vaccines this way.
“We are probably going to acquire doses of vaccines (…) of a single dose like Johnson & Johnson, they are probably the ones we receive through the COVAX mechanism,” said the minister, without specifying further details.
The country registers 230,147 cases of COVID-19 and 2,595 deaths. Medical guilds and science academies argue that the actual numbers would be higher due to underreporting and low testing.
