Prognosis

Venezuela Politicizes Vaccine Access Via State Loyalty Card

  • Many Venezuelans aren’t on registry used to distribute shots
  • Crumbling hospitals under strain from the surge in infections
People wait to receive a dose of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine at a clinic in Caracas, on April 9.Photographer: Manaure Quintero/Bloomberg
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Venezuela is restricting Covid-19 shots to people with a state loyalty card, effectively excluding many government opponents from getting vaccinated.

When the country began inoculating its elderly population last week, it said it was selecting recipients from a registry used by the Nicolas Maduro administration to keep tabs on voter loyalty and grant state subsidies.