Is the Mexican wife of a Cuban official involved in the human-trafficking of tens of thousands of healthcare workers the best candidate in the Western Hemisphere to head the Washington-based Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)? Is a Brazilian whose fingerprints are all over the use of Cuban doctors as forced labor in his country any better? Both have been nominated for the job by their respective governments, which are lobbying hard for them. Both deserve to be disqualified. By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. Full Text -> WSJ

Traducción de cortesía -> ¿Es la esposa mexicana de un funcionario cubano involucrado en la trata de personas de decenas de miles de trabajadores de la salud la mejor candidata en el hemisferio occidental para dirigir la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) con sede en Washington? ¿Es mejor un brasileño cuyas huellas dactilares están por todas partes sobre el uso de médicos cubanos como trabajadores forzados en su país? Ambos han sido nominados para el puesto por sus respectivos gobiernos, que están presionando mucho por ellos. Ambos merecen ser descalificados.

Este apoyo, prosiguió, incluye el apoyo a la campaña de vacunación contra el sarampión y polio que va a beneficiar a “millones de niños”, la recuperación gradual de los servicios esenciales de salud y la vigilancia epidemiológica para proteger a todas las personas de la covid-19 y otras enfermedades transmisibles. Igualmente, la fuente señaló que habrá apoyo de la OPS para reforzar las capacidades regulatorias y del primer nivel de atención en salud. Texto Completo-> Infobaes

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Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in a press conference questioned the use of the Cuban vaccine Abdala because the World Health Organization (WHO) has not authorized the drug. And he asked the Maduro regime to report on the evaluation made by Venezuela to approve its use. Additionally, he pointed out the importance that “the producers of the Abdala vaccine can, at the conclusion of all the phase 1, 2 and 3 studies, publish these data in scientific journals so that the scientific community can evaluate and know these data in a public way.” By OnVenezuela

Venezuela’s government and opposition are in talks with the Pan-American Health Organization to buy vaccines to inoculate 6 million people against Covid-19, according to three people with direct knowledge of the talks.About 1.4 million of those are from AstraZeneca Plc and will come from the World Health Organization-backed Covax initiative, the people said.The vaccines would be available from March, and would be paid for with offshore funds frozen by U.S. sanctions, which can’t be unblocked without the backing of the opposition. While the source of the remaining vaccines is yet to be determined, the total cost for the 12 million doses, enough to vaccinate 6 million Venezuelans, is approximately $120 million, according to two of the people. Full Text-> TheHindustanTimes

The timeline has closed for Venezuela to join the COVAX facility for COVID-19 vaccines, an official with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Tuesday, though the country was still negotiating for doses through other means. Venezuela, where pandemic lockdowns aggravated an already-severe economic crisis, expressed interest in joining COVAX, according Ciro Ugarte, director of health emergencies for PAHO, the regional arm of the World Health Organization (WHO). By Cassandra Garrison, Diego Oré and Brian Ellsworth. Full Text -> FinancialPost

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) began to distribute medical protection material in Venezuela to attend the COVID-19 pandemic Thanks to an agreement signed with the government and the opposition, several anti-Chavistas reported this Thursday. Full Text-> Explica

In a meeting today between the Minister of Health, Carlos Alvarado; National Assembly adviser Julio Castro; PAHO’s director of health emergencies, Ciro Ugarte, and PAHO’s representative in Venezuela, Gerardo de Cosio, participants agreed to prioritize access to protective equipment for health personnel and medicines and supplies for treatment and intensive care services, to decentralize diagnostic testing and join efforts to care for the most affected states. Full Text -> PAHO