With serious difficulties in obtaining the amount of vaccines necessary for his population, the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, this Friday encountered a scandal of proportions:
his Minister of Health had organized a 'VIP vaccination' at the Ministry's headquarters
.
He was attended by powerful figures such as politicians and trade unionists.
The effect of the revelation was so powerful that Fernández asked the minister to resign.
Until this Friday, Argentina had
vaccinated less than 1% of its 45 million inhabitants
in the face of the covid pandemic that has hit the world for a year.
Argentina is one of the 15 countries most affected by the pandemic.
In recent weeks there have been reports of lost or stolen vaccines and of politicians who at the municipal level, especially, arbitrarily decided who would be immunized with Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine that the
Casa Rosada
acquired
through direct negotiations with President
Vladimir Putin
.
But nothing had the dimension of the 'VIP vaccination' in the offices run by
Ginés González García
, who for the third time in his life occupied the Ministry of Health.
According to "La Nación",
Hugo Moyano
, the 77-year-old Argentine union leader, his wife and one of their children, 20
, attended that vaccination program
. He was joined by politicians closely related to the president, such as the deputy
Eduardo Valdés
or former Foreign Minister
Jorge Taiana
, who were to accompany Fernández on his trip to Mexico next week.
Upon learning of what happened, the president decided not to travel.
The immunization plan in Argentina varies between jurisdictions and the demand for vaccines far exceeds the supply.
Chile
, a neighboring country, has already vaccinated 11% of its population, eleven times more than Argentina, which at the beginning of the pandemic was exhibited as a "model" by the Casa Rosada, a statement that could not be sustained.
"This is the vaccination of the Kirchnerist oligarchy," denounced
Patricia Bullrich
, president of Pro, one of the three parties that make up the opposition coalition
Together for Change
.
"The names that were not known are the same or more scandalous," said Deputy Graciela Ocaña.
"We have seen political parties appropriating state resources," added Senator
Martín Lousteau
, a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) and the opposition coalition.
The amazing thing was that the revelation of the existence of these privileged vaccinated was not the product of a journalistic investigation or a complaint from the opposition: the story was told, laughing, by
Horacio Verbitsky
, a journalist with a long history and close to Kirchnerism , especially to Vice President
Cristina Fernández
.
Verbitsky, who is among those vaccinated irregularly, explained how he managed to get immunized.
"I started to find out where to do it. I called my old friend Ginés González García, whom I have known for many years, who told me that I had to go to the Posadas Hospital," explained the journalist, very influential in certain sectors of the government, on Radio 'The uncovering'.
"When I was about to go I received a message from the secretary of Ginés, who told me that a team of vaccinators from Posadas was going to come to the Ministry, and to go there to give me the vaccine. Well, I went to the Ministry, the vaccination team was there ".
Verbitsky's statements first generated enormous confusion and then a chain of reactions.
The president had presented that same day the formation of the
new Economic and Social Council
, which aims to lay the future foundations for the chronically in crisis Argentine economy.
The issue, very expensive for Fernández, disappeared as a news issue, devastated by the news of a Ministry of Health that does favors with vaccines.
Verbitsky, a relevant figure in the area of the defense of human rights and president of the
Center for Legal and Social Studies (Cels)
, dedicated to this issue, was rejected by his own employees, who manifested themselves on twitter: " We received the news that the president of our organization was vaccinated outside the established system, through a chain of favors and in a personal capacity (...). Nothing that happened represents the work and thinking of those of us who are part of and do the organization in its day to day ".
Shortly after,
Roberto Navarro
, owner of the radio where Verbitsky was interviewed, fired him from his post as a columnist: "It is immoral that with 50,000 dead people have been vaccinated VIP."
Fernández will announce the name of González García's successor on Saturday, but the scandal promises to continue in a country that, although it is one of the few that have begun to vaccinate in the world, until now depended on the agreement with Putin to do so.
Half a million doses of the
Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine
, produced in India under the
Covishield
brand
,
arrived this week
and there are no certainty about new shipments.
The already former minister, who a year ago assured that the covid would not affect Argentina and systematically failed in his forecasts and statements, did not reach an agreement with
Pfizer
, despite the fact that the country was one of those that was lent to the tests to make vaccines.
At the end of 2020, the government assured that the country would have 20 million doses at this point in the year, but the figure that reached Argentina was barely half a million.
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