In the midst of the oil production crisis in Venezuela, with land prices and distribution compromised by debt and sanctions, President Nicolás Maduro appeals to crude oil as a manna with which to obtain vaccines against covid-19 that claims the country.
Immunization plans have been delayed, as they have not been able to acquire the necessary and promised vaccines by the president or refuse to receive AstraZeneca vaccine due to the risk that, according to the Government, entails its application, while agreeing to participate in trials of Cuban drugs.
With this helm, Maduro seeks a Copernican turn using the little oil he has as a base, while the second wave of covid-19 worsens day by day and threatens to bring the weak hospital system to total collapse. These are some keys that give a glimpse of the viability of the plan.
1.- AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL
With the world advancing in vaccination, Venezuela has only received 250,000 doses of Sputnik-V and 500,000 from China’s Sinopharm, although it has not released official data on how many of them it has already inoculated.
Faced with this situation and the difficulties of Venezuela in accessing part of its resources, blocked by sanctions, the president launched a risky bet that, obviously, was unexpected.
“I approved it (the proposal) today, dedicating oil for vaccines (…) would dedicate a part of its production to guarantee all the vaccines that Venezuela needs, oil for vaccines,” he said last 29 of March.
2.- A PRODUCTION THAT FALLS INTO DRILLING
On January 12, in his annual message, the head of state stated that the pumping of the state oil company PDVSA fell by 69% between 2015 and 2019, a phenomenon that led the country to lose revenue from about $ 102.5 billion.
Then, the president presented a graph in which he claimed that in March 2015 Venezuela produced 2,817,000 barrels of oil per day.
On the other hand, the Vice President and Minister of Petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, explained on February 19 that Venezuela produced in 2020 an average of 400,000 barrels per day, which places the country traditionally considered “oil” below even all from neighboring Colombia, which extracted nearly 700,000 barrels per day.
3.- DEBT COMMITMENTS
The debt has not stopped growing to the point that, last September, Venezuela proposed to the bondholders of the republic and the state companies PDVSA and Electricidad de Caracas to interrupt the payments of interest and capital, alluding to problems to meet commitments for US-imposed economic sanctions
To settle part of the debt contracted, Venezuela has acquired various commitments with China, Russia, India, Cuba and Petrocaribe, an alliance that includes several Caribbean countries, which are met with crude shipments.
Part of the production is committed to these nations, including the two that have already sent vaccines to Venezuela: China and Russia.
4.- FROM CALENDAR TO CALENDAR
Initially, the government said that mass vaccination would begin in April, but, starting the month, and in the absence of official data, it seems impossible that this process has begun having received only 750,000 doses, which would immunize 375,000 people in a country of 30 million people.
After the bet on Sputnik V, the Sinopharm vaccines arrived without warning. Subsequently, the other Russian drug (EpiVac Corona) was approved, and now Maduro has announced the arrival of two Cuban drugs in the testing phase, that is, the effectiveness of which is unknown.
Meanwhile, he has refused to receive vaccines from AstraZeneca, which Venezuela had assigned as part of the COVAX mechanism, while something appears that on another occasion would be an ace up his sleeve as the “oil for vaccines “. With this scenario, a new mass vaccination schedule is expected to be complicated in the coming months.
5.- OFFICIAL SILENCE
It is not uncommon in Venezuela, but striking in this case. There is no official information on the progress of vaccination, it is unknown how many doses were applied and to whom.
Faced with this lack of data, there are accumulations of complaints from health professionals who have not received them and others who say that corruption is being unleashed in the distribution.
Meanwhile, it is unknown how much the government has paid for the vaccines received, when the next ones will arrive or which sectors will be prioritized.