Argentine COVID-19 vaccination scandal
Political scandal in Argentina / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Argentine COVID-19 vaccination scandal, known in Argentina as vacunatorio VIP ("VIP vaccination" or "VIP vaccination center" in English), is a political scandal related to the application of COVID-19 vaccines in the Ministry of Health of Argentina to citizens who, due to the limitations established in the vaccination protocol, were not authorized to receive these vaccines yet.
The scandal was first denounced by intellectual Beatriz Sarlo, who denounced that she was offered to be vaccinated "under the table," but refused to identify the people who did it.[1][2][3] Faced with the complaint, Fernán Quirós, the Minister of Health of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, indicated that this did not happen in his jurisdiction.[4][5]
The second disclosure was made by journalist Horacio Verbitsky, who said that he was vaccinated in the offices of the Ministry of Health, then led by Ginés González García.[6] This led to the immediate request for González García to resign by the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.[7][8][9] He was replaced by the then-Vice Minister, Carla Vizzotti.[10][11][12] Vizzotti ordered the publication of the list of those vaccinated under the direction of the Ministry of Health, which amounted to seventy people, stating that the vast majority were strategic personnel, denying that a "VIP vaccination center" operated in the Ministry and reporting that it was "a very specific, exceptional, wrong situation and that the necessary measures have been taken."[13][14][15]
The scandal occurred in the context of a shortage of vaccines, rumors of vaccination due to favoritism or political militancy, and the use of political party buildings for volunteers to register the population for vaccination.[16][17][18]
Some media compared the event with the COVID-19 vaccine scandal that occurred in Peru, known as Vacunagate.[19][20][21] Other media also compared it with the scandal in Chile, where it was found that 37,000 people, under 60 years old and without chronic diseases that do not belong to priority groups, were vaccinated before the time established in their vaccination schedule.[22][23]