Venezuela to receive COVAX vaccines in coming days, Maduro says

CARACAS - Venezuela will receive 6.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines through the COVAX initiative "in the coming days," President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, potentially speeding up an inoculation campaign well behind regional peers.

The announcement comes after the GAVI alliance, which co-runs the facility along with the World Health Organization (WHO), said in early July that COVAX had received payments from the South American country after Venezuelan officials said some payments were blocked by a bank due to U.S. sanctions. Maduro had given COVAX an "ultimatum" to send the doses or return the funds Venezuela has already paid.