Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has urged US President Joe Biden to release $10 million in Venezuelan funding designated for the COVAX system, which is responsible for distributing Coronavirus vaccines.

In a televised broadcast, Maduro said that “10 million dollars of our deposits that can be used to immunize the population of Venezuela had been blocked by the US”.

He asked: What do we call this? The US sanctions are simply “unilateral, illegal, immoral and a criminal theft,” Maduro went on to say.

Furthermore, the Venezuelan President reiterated his call on Joe Biden's government to "stop blocking Venezuela's vaccine funds."

El presidente de #Venezuela🇻🇪 @NicolasMaduro, calificó como "un robo criminal" el bloqueo de los recursos de su país para adquirir las vacunas contra la #Covid19, y exigió a @JoeBiden dejarlo sin efecto📲https://t.co/Se4ww3upjX

— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) June 12, 2021

Maduro assured that his country's government has been unable to complete the last payment required to receive coronavirus vaccines because transfers to the global COVAX vaccine program had been blocked due to the US sanctions, denouncing the occurrence of a "theft".

Furthermore, He noted that "the United States has offered 20 million dollars in aid to Venezuela, but not a single dollar has yet been delivered."

On her part, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said Venezuela had been unable to pay down the remaining $10 million from Swiss bank UBS (UBSG.S) that four operations "were blocked and under investigation."

Venezuela has reported more than 246,764 coronavirus cases and 2,764 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic.