QUITO (BLOOMBERG) - Ecuador health minister Juan Carlos Zevallos resigned Friday (Feb 26), becoming the third top Latin American health official forced out in two weeks as outrage grows over the ability of the region s richest and most powerful to obtain vaccinations before the rest of the population.
President Lenin Moreno, whose term ends May 24, posted the minister s resignation letter on Twitter.
Mr Zevallos departure was quickened after he sent letters to university presidents inviting them to skip the line and after prosecutors launched an investigation into his mother s vaccination in January.
Argentina s health minister resigned on Feb 19, as did both the Peruvian health minister and her deputy a week earlier. In both countries, the revelation of VIP vaccinations sent the governments Cabinets into disarray, as the number of insiders who were vaccinated in secret ballooned to at least 70 in Argentina and nearly 500 in Peru, where a foreign affairs minister was also forced
Ecuador s health minister resigns after vaccine access scandal
By Ana Maria Cañizares and Stefano Pozzebon, CNN
Updated 2:38 PM ET, Fri February 26, 2021
Juan Carlos Zevallos, seen here addressing the media in Guayaquil, Ecuador in January 2021, faced a backlash. (CNN)Ecuador s health minister Juan Carlos Zevallos stepped down Friday, after his department allowed a university official receive a Covid-19 vaccine ahead of other priority groups.
President Lenin Moreno announced Zevallos s resignation on Twitter, after the move prompted a major backlash. He posted the minister s resignation letter, which explained that his decision to step down was due to the current political climate. Zevallos added that he was also stepping down to allow the National Vaccination Campaign to continue.
Ecuador secures 2 mn doses of Chinese Covid vaccine
Sat, Feb 27 2021 08:21:54 AM
Quito, Feb 27 (IANS): Ecuador will receive two million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for mass vaccination against Covid-19, after negotiations were finalized on Thursday, Ecuadoran Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos said. Sinovac is being incorporated . Just this morning we received the approval with all the seals and legal approvals from the Chinese government and the company, Zevallos told a press conference, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
This is very important because it will allow us to quickly reach the required percentages and help us tremendously to cover a higher percentage of the population, the minister said.
Ecuador’s health minister has stepped down after criticism over the distribution plan of COVID-19 vaccines, the latest vaccination-related scandal to roil governments in South America.
Juan Carlos Zevallos tendered his resignation on Friday after claims of irregularities in a pilot programme for vaccinations that the government has been carrying out since January.
Zevallos is under investigation by state prosecutors for mishandling the roll-out after he participated in an inoculation effort at a nursing home where his mother lives.
“Given the current political situation, and in order to allow the continuity of the National Vaccination Plan, I present to you, Mr. President, the irrevocable resignation of [my] functions of Minister of Health,” Zevallos said in a letter that President Lenin Moreno shared on Twitter.