Argentina’s Health Minister has resigned following reports that people have by-passed procedures and rules and used their connections with officials to get access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Gines Gonzalez Garcia said in a letter posted on Twitter on Friday that individuals were able to sidestep proper procedure for vaccinations due to “unintended confusion” in his office while he was away.
Two sources in the presidency said earlier on Friday that President Alberto Fernandez had asked for Mr. Gines’ resignation after allegations were made in the media of at least ten people receiving vaccinations without following the proper procedure, among them a veteran journalist who claimed he had received a shot after speaking directly with the minister.
Since December, Argentina has been using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to inoculate frontline health workers, though deliveries have lagged far behind what it initially hoped for. The South American country has started inoculating some people over seventy this week but appointments are scarce and people are supposed to follow a procedure that involves registering first.
As of Wednesday in Argentina, about 250,000 people had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The country of around 45 million people has confirmed over 2 million coronavirus infections and 51,000 deaths.
A Reuters report says the growing scandal has thrown a spotlight on wider fears in the region over corruption and access to vaccines, which are in short supply.
Earlier this month, Peru’s health and foreign ministers quit and its former president was placed under criminal investigation after reports of hundreds of Peruvian officials and others receiving vaccine doses outside of clinical trials and before the national immunization program began.
In Argentina, well-known local journalist Horacio Verbitsky said he had received a shot after approaching the health minister.