First shipment of Russian COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Venezuela

The first shipment of Russian coronavirus vaccine, known as Spuntnik V, arrived in Venezuela this Friday. The vaccine is in phase 3 of clinical trials and will benefit 40,000 people.

On receiving the shipment at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetía, the Venezuelan Vice-President, Delcy Rodríguez, said that it was "an event that we do not hesitate to classify as historic for our country (...) I cannot hide the emotion that we feel that Venezuela is the first country in the Western Hemisphere to participate in Phase 3 of the clinical trials of this vaccine". In addition to taking part in the trials, Rodriguez assured that Caracas would participate in the "production of the vaccine" to supply it to its nationals.

"This cooperation for the Suptnik V vaccine was the result of the contacts that remain between Russia and Venzuela," said the senior official of the Chavista regime, and is reported by the agency close to the Kremlin, RT.

Venezuelan Salid's Carlos Alvarado reported that testing of this vaccine will begin in Caracas this month and then be extended to the rest of the country.

On 30 August, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that Venezuela would join the Sputnik V clinical trials, a decision he said was taken after an "important meeting" between Alvarado and "the commission of Russian scientists" who are developing the vaccine.

In mid-August, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RIDF) announced that it would supply up to 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Latin American countries.

"Yesterday we agreed to send 32 million doses of the vaccine to Mexico. Yesterday we agreed to send 32 million doses of the vaccine to Mexico. We will soon announce the supply of up to 100 million doses to other Latin American countries," said Kiril Dmitriev, head of the FIDR, during a telematics conference with Latin American foreign ministers.

Dmítriev stressed that Russia has already reached a supply agreement with the Brazilian state of Paraná and that today it will announce a similar agreement with a second state in that country. "They will buy 50 million doses from us," said Dmitriyev.

That the new COVID-19 vaccine created by the Russians is called Sputnik V is not surprising.  The political significance of this announcement is clear: in the late 1950s, at the height of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, the first artificial satellite launched by the USSR was called Sputnik. With this, Vladimir Putin wants to send a clear message: Russia, like the USSR, is there and is leading the race for a vaccine.

Because whoever has the vaccine will not only be a medical breakthrough, but also a tremendous blow to world governance. Becoming the first country in the world to develop a vaccine is a matter of national prestige for the Kremlin and showing the world that Russia is a world power.