People receive their first dose of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus disease , in the parking lot of the Social Security Institute of the Armed Forces, turned into a mass vaccination centre, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jun 5, 2021. CARACAS: The COVAX vaccine-sharing facility is aiming to overcome roadblocks to the shipment of coronavirus shots to Venezuela"as soon as possible," a spokesman for the GAVI alliance said on Tuesday .
The comments from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance which runs COVAX with the World Health Organization, came after President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday said he was giving the COVAX system an"ultimatum" to send doses to the crisis-stricken South American country or return the money Venezuela had already paid.Officials from the OPEC nation said in June that several payments to cover the US$120 million fee have been made, but that the final four payments have been blocked by Swiss bank UBS.
Still, the measures have left many banks wary of processing even authorised Venezuela-related transactions.Venezuela's COVAX payments are not subject to any sanctions, but pose compliance problems for UBS because the government has not satisfactorily spelled out to the bank exactly what the payment is for, a person familiar with the matter said, adding that UBS will execute the transaction as soon as the open questions are clarified.
Venezuela has received 3.5 million vaccine doses from allies Russia and China, and is also conducting trials for Cuba's Abdala vaccine.
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