Vaccinegate
COVID-19 vaccine corruption related lawsuits and scandals, commonly known as Vaccinegates, is a term used to refer to irregularities in COVID-19 vaccine procurement, distribution and vaccination. State officials from Latin American and African countries have been publicly denounced by both local and international media outlets due to mismanagement of vaccine distribution.
Background
In late December 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) began approving COVID-19 vaccines for human use. During the same time period, the UNODC published a report warning about corruption related to vaccine distribution, stating that "the entry of substandard and falsified vaccines into markets, theft of vaccines within the distribution systems, leakages in emergency funding designated for the development and distribution of vaccines, nepotism, favoritism, and corrupted procurement systems" need to be addressed.[1]
Corruption scandals
Argentina
In Argentina, seventy people were vaccinated throughout December and January 2021, when they were not yet due to receive the vaccines. The scandal first broke out when an Argentinian journalist admitted, in a radio show, to have been vaccinated thanks to his relationship with the then Minister of Health, Ginés González García. After that declaration, he was mandated by president Alberto Fernandez to resign from office on February 19, 2021. García later stated that the whole scandal was due to a "confusion" of his personal secretary. García was later replaced by the current Minister, Carla Vizzotti, who ordered the publication of the list of those vaccinated in the Posadas Hospital or under the indication of the Ministry of Health. However, Vizzotti later stated "that the vast majority were strategic personnel, denying that a VIP vaccinator was operating in the Ministry and informing that it was "a very specific, exceptional, mistaken situation and that the necessary measures have been taken".[2][3]
Peru
Irregularities have also been reported in Peru as 101 public officials including former president Martin Vizcarra and their loved ones received the Sinopharm vaccine. The commission in charge of investigating the so-called Vaccinegate has revealed that these people received vaccination on the 25th of February and not in Peru, with some people jumping the line to get their turn early. This occurred before the vaccines arrived in Peru and the immunisation campaign started only this month with one million vaccines purchased from Sinopharm.
Along with the doses sent by Sinopharm to develop the trial of its vaccine candidate in Peru, the Chinese laboratory delivered 3,200 doses so that the teams in charge of the trial could inoculate their researchers. However, 1,200 of these doses were delivered to the Chinese embassy in Peru and the remaining 2,000 vaccines were sent to the research centres of the Cayetano Heredia and Mayor de San Marcos universities, which would conduct the trial with 12,000 volunteers.
The president of the investigative commission appointed by the Ministry of Health, Fernando Carbone, explained at a press conference that the Cayetano Heredia University sent him a list of 470 people who were inoculated with this batch of vaccine candidates. Of these 470, "369 are part of the teams that have developed the trial" and 101 are the so-called related people, who are personnel from the Ministry of Health, the Foreign Ministry, relatives of both, and guests who are not related to them, Carbone said.
Among the 100 or so related people are Vizcarra, his wife and his brother, and among the officials who had no direct connection to the trials are former health minister Pilar Mazzetti and foreign minister Elizabeth Astete, who resigned shortly after the Vaccinegate affair was uncovered. Carbone reported that the heads invited those who were part of their research teams, but they are also the ones who made the decisions to invite other people. Among those responsible are the trial's principal investigator at Cayetano Heredia University, Germán Málaga, as well as researchers Hugo García and Arturo Bustos, and the principal investigator at San Marcos University, Eduardo Ticona. However, Carbone confirmed that there were also two liaisons in the Ministries: immunisation advisor Carlos Castillo and the director of Science and Technology at the Foreign Ministry Arturo Jarama, who "favored people who had nothing to do with the research teams" to be inoculated.[4][5]
References
- ↑ "COVID-19 VACCINES AND CORRUPTION RISKS" (PDF). www.unodc.org. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ↑ "Carla Vizzotti, sobre la nueva lista de vacunados VIP: "La gran mayoría es personal estratégico"". Clarín. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ↑ "La renuncia de Ginés González García: "Fue la confusión involuntaria de mi secretaría privada"". Revista Pronto (in español). Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ↑ "El vacunagate explotó en Perú | Una lista de privilegiados recibió la vacuna china meses antes de que se distribuyera".
- ↑ ""Vacunagate" en Perú: Más de cien personas recibieron vacunas en secreto | DW | 26.02.2021".
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