President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, urged the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) to improve and coordinate treatments to fight COVID-19.
“ALBA-TCP needs to move forward at the same pace with treatment and its scientific capacity,” said the Venezuelan president.
In that vein, President Maduro explained that the pandemic will not end in 2021 due to a global lack of control regarding vaccines.
“It means we are going to continue facing this problem, and treatments will become increasingly important,” he stressed.
Maduro highlighted the efforts made by Cuban scientists who have developed vaccines and treatments to fight the virus. “Among the ALBA countries, Cuba is the country leading medical science,” he said.
In this context, he entrusted the Presidential Commission for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 with establishing strategies to reach agreements with Cuba allowing Venezuela to procure the Soberana 02 vaccine.
“It is the first vaccine made by us Caribbeans thanks to Fidel (Castro), who was the one who established scientific institutes and granted Cuban science the highest rank in Cuba’s and Latin America’s scientific history,” he said.
The Venezuelan president weighed up the behavior of some nations regarding the control of the pandemic and the acquisition of the vaccine, including the United States, which remains the epicenter of the pandemic, and Colombia, whose sanitary system is collapsing due to the Colombian government’s neoliberal measures.
Likewise, the Brazilian government’s ambiguity to deal with the pandemic is devastating Brazilian families as the South American country has become a hotspot in the region.
On the contrary, Venezuela has established alliances to fight the virus, enabling it to procure over 10 million Sputnik V vaccines to protect the people.
The Venezuelan president called for the unity of nations and to put aside ideological differences.
“The key in 2021 is prevention and healing treatments. I tell the world and Latin American and Caribbean governments, both friendly and unfriendly, that we can and we must come to agreements. Treatments are key,” he stressed.