SFP closes investigation against undersecretary Martha Delgado

The Ministry of Public Administration (SFP) reported that the investigation against Martha DelgadoUndersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), initiated after a complaint was received indicating her alleged participation in facilitating government officials, family members and friends to get vaccinated against COVID-19 , as part of the CanSino vaccine trials in Mexico, when the population still did not have access to the drug and deaths numbered in the hundreds.

In response to a request for information made by this portal, the SFP stated that “the Internal Control Body in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (OIC-SRE) reported that, after an exhaustive search of the electronic records it has, it was found that the investigation corresponding to official letter SFCC/200/273/2020 was closed due to lack of elements.”

The SFP did not give more details in this regard, only that the Internal Control Body of the SRE concluded the investigation “by means of a resolution dated February 5, 2021.” That is, he closed it less than two months after starting it.

Political Animal He also requested information from the SRE about this investigation, but the answer was that the subject obliged to provide it was the Public Function.

An interview with the undersecretary was also requested, but, through the communication office of the SRE, it was only reported that the investigation was concluded and that she was not asked for information or called to appear.

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It was in 2020 when the investigation was opened in the Comptroller of the SRE, after Roberto Salcedo Aquino, then Undersecretary for Combating Corruption at the SFP —and today head of the agency— requested, through the official SFCC/200/273/2020, the head of the Internal Control Body to investigate a complaint received on December 5 of that year. In it, it was pointed out that Delgado and his then number two, Javier Jileta, operated a clandestine vaccination center in the offices of Epic, a company located at number 19 Ciruelos street, in the Ciudad Jardines neighborhood of Mexico City. .

The complaint stated that Delgado and Jileta recruited officials, family members and friends as volunteers in phase 3 of the CanSino vaccine trial and made sure they received the drug and not a placebo, as half of the participants would receive. .

according to the trade SFCC/200/273/2020made public by the portal Latinusthe complaint indicated that Delgado and Jileta incurred “in bribery, improper use of information, abuse of functions, etc., by giving access to vaccines (not placebo) not authorized by the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) to various officials within the public administration and by converting that property (the one in the Ciudad Jardines neighborhood) into an unauthorized vaccination center (by Cofepris).”

The complaint was made at a time when vaccination had not yet started, not even for the first group of health workers in Mexico, which started until December 24, 2020. Therefore, the accusation indicated that the two officials put disposal of politicians and acquaintances a drug that was still denied to the rest of the population, while hundreds of people died from COVID-19.

The Comptroller’s Office of the SRE did initiate an investigation on this subject, but it was concluded when it did not find evidence.

In a statement, made public on his social networks in January 2021, Delgado denied the accusations of the alleged clandestine vaccination. “I ask that the necessary investigations be carried out to be able to clarify the accusations made and make transparent the management of CanSino Bio vaccines, which are used to carry out its Phase III in Mexico, in full adherence to transparency and for the tranquility of the community. citizenship”.

In Mexico, the clinical study of CanSino began on November 13, 2020. The volunteers were enrolled in 11 centers located in Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Mexico City, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guerrero and Nuevo León, approved by Cofepris.

CanSino conducted the trial with the Mexican company Epic Research CRO (Contract Research Organization, for its acronym in English), representative of the Chinese company in Mexico and in charge of the study. This portal also requested information from this company, but no response was obtained.

Can’t it was the first company to carry out trials in Mexico of a vaccine against COVID-19. Then Johnson & Johnson would follow. The vaccine called AD5-nCoV was created by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and the pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics and incorporates the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

For the phase 3 study, around 15,000 Mexican volunteers were recruited, of whom half received the vaccine and the other half a placebo or inert substance. This is done in order to compare the vaccinated group against the unvaccinated group.

The main objectives of the study were to observe the proportion of vaccinated participants who become infected and whether any vaccinated volunteers developed serious adverse events. The study was carried out simultaneously from August 2020 in various countries such as China, the Saudi Arabian Kingdom, Pakistan and Russia.