“Venezuela has paid ALL of its commitments with the #COVAX mechanism to acquire vaccines. However, the Bank has arbitrarily ‘blocked’ the latest payments and they are under ‘investigation.’ A crime!” Arreaza wrote on Twitter late on Thursday.
The top diplomat attached a COVAX letter addressed to Hector Rosales, Caracas’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, that stated that four payments totaling $4.6 million have been frozen. The letter also shows that altogether, Venezuela had made 12 payments for a total sum of over $110 million.
Venezuela has been relying on a mix of international sources for its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, mainly relying on Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine as well as China’s Sinopharm and AstraZeneca supplied through the WHO-led COVAX scheme.