July 25, 2024

Venezuela nears Covid-19 vaccine deal using cash in frozen accounts

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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

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