LONDON – Argentina’s government has published a list of 70 influential figures who received Covid-19 vaccinations ahead of others at the Posadas Hospital in Buenos Aires, reported Anadolu Agency.
The decision to publish said list came after a meeting between cabinet chief, Santiago Cafiero, and the country’s new Health Minister, Carla Vizzotti.
The list includes a number of prominent figures such as former president Eduardo Duhalde, his wife, Hilda Gonzalez and their children.
A number of trade unionists, ministers and secretaries were also among those named on the list.
They reportedly received the Russian Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, ahead of the official schedule.
Argentina has been prioritising the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines to frontline medical professionals in the battle against the virus and has started vaccinating older age groups.
According to local reports, former health minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia set up exclusive ‘VIP’ vaccine access to the benefit of a select few in the country.
On February 19, the scandal was uncovered after the public confession of Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky, who confirmed he had received the Russian vaccine after speaking to his “old friend” Gonzalez Garcia.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez then asked Gonzalez Garcia to resign after the scandal was reported, in which those on the list did not have to register online, unlike other citizens.
On Saturday, Vizzotti replaced the minister.
Following the scandal, local reports say the president instructed Cafiero and Vizzotti to release the list of those who had received preferential vaccine treatment.
Argentina, with a population of over 45 million, has registered more than 2 million coronavirus infections and over 51,000 deaths, according to data from US-based Johns Hopkins University. – Bernama, February 23, 2021
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