CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela will begin vaccinating medical personnel against the novel coronavirus on Thursday, President Nicolas Maduro said in a press conference on Wednesday.
The announcement comes after the first 100,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the South American country on Saturday.
“We will begin vaccinating all the country’s health personnel, and other priority personnel,” Maduro said, adding that National Assembly lawmakers would be included in the first round.
For months Venezuela’s government has said the crisis-stricken country would receive 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, although the vaccine’s maker has not confirmed that figure.
In addition, the Pan American Health Organization has said that between 1.4 million and 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine had been reserved for Venezuela.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Caracas; Writing by Luc Cohen)
