Ecuador’s Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos resigned, becoming the third Latin American health official to resign in two weeks, as outrage grows over the ability of the wealthiest and most powerful in the region for get vaccinated before than the rest of the population.
President Lenín Moreno, whose term ends on May 24, posted the minister’s resignation letter on Twitter. Zevallos’ departure came after he sent letters to university rectors inviting them to skip the line and after prosecutors launched an investigation into his mother’s vaccination in January.
In the last 14 days, the Argentine Minister of Health resigned, in the same way as the Peruvian Minister of Health and his deputy. In both countries, the revelation of the VIP vaccination caused chaos in government cabinets, while the number of influencers who were secretly vaccinated soared to 70 in Argentina and to almost 500 in Peru.
In Ecuador, the scandal is preparing to do the same.
It is a politically delicate moment for the country, with a government that is on its way out, without a parliamentary majority and a second round of the presidential elections scheduled for April 11.
“Given the current political situation, and in order to enable the continuity of the National Vaccination Plan, I present to you, Mr. President, the irrevocable resignation,” Zevallos wrote in his exit note.
After sharing the letter, Moreno ruled out in a separate tweet that any of his own close relatives had been vaccinated. Ecuadorians are outraged that the slow pace of the vaccination effort did not prevent influential people from receiving the coveted vaccine.
On Friday, octogenarian radio host Diego Oquendo became the last non-frontline person to acknowledge receiving the vaccine. Unlike Argentina and Peru, where governments have published lists of people who received early doses, Zevallos said patient confidentiality made it impossible to do the same.
The Moreno government initially opted for deliveries of vaccines purchased from Western pharmaceutical companies, but Pfizer’s initial shipments only included doses for 30,000 people.
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