President Lenin Moreno announced Zevallos’ resignation on Twitter, after the movement provoked a major backlash. He published the minister’s resignation letter, explaining that his decision to leave office was due to the “current political climate”. Zevallos added that he was also retiring to “allow the National Vaccination Campaign to continue.”
Zevallos, who oversaw Ecuador’s approach to the pandemic, was set on fire after it was revealed the Ministry of Health had invited a university rector to receive a vaccine in front of health workers and the elderly.
Zevallos is the third U.S. health minister to resign after similar vaccine access scandals.
Peruvian Pilar Mazzetti resigned on February 13 after it was revealed that a group of politicians, including former President Martin Vizcarra, had had access to the vaccine ahead of other groups.
On February 20, Argentine Health Minister Gines González García also resigned after a journalist revealed he was part of a “VIP group” that was vaccinated by the health ministry outside the campaign. of usual vaccination.
Latin American countries were looking for vaccines earlier this year. Ecuador began its inoculation campaign in January using the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the country has reported 281,169 Covid-19 cases in total and 15,669 deaths.