CARACAS – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday said his government has agreed to buy 10 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19.
The vaccines will come in the first quarter of next year, he said at an event here broadcast on government television, adding that “Venezuela will manufacture the Russian vaccine in Venezuelan laboratories”.
In August, Russia became the first country to register a Covid-19 vaccine, which it named Sputnik V after the world’s first satellite launched into space in 1957.
However, the announcement has been met with scepticism in the international community.
Its developers reported initial test results showing the vaccine to be 92% effective, two days after pharma giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech said Phase 3 results found their vaccine to be more than 90% effective, injecting hope into the battle against the virus.
Early last month, Venezuela began participating in Sputnik V clinical trials with some 2,000 volunteers – among them Maduro’s son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra.
Since the pandemic arrived in Venezuela in March, the government has confirmed 96,933 infections and 848 deaths.
But, opposition figures and non-governmental organisations question the numbers, saying due to under-reporting, they may be much higher. – AFP, November 16, 2020
