Venezuela paid $64 million to receive vaccines through COVAX - vice president

FILE PHOTO: An elderly woman receives a dose of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in Caracas, Venezuela April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

(Reuters) - Venezuela has paid $64 million, half of the required amount, for doses it is set to receive through the global COVAX program, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced Saturday on state television.

"You know that the COVAX mechanism requires an advance - Venezuela has even doubled the required advance," said Rodriguez, adding that the government had deposited "59.2 million Swiss francs in the accounts of GAVI," a co-leader of the COVAX program that seeks to improve low-income countries' access to vaccines.