Peru foreign minister resigns over early vaccination scandal
LIMA, Peru — Peru's foreign minister resigned Sunday, the second top official to step down amid a growing scandal over politicians receiving Covid-19 vaccinations well before the general public.
The South American nation has been badly hit by the pandemic, with its hospitals overwhelmed and a targeted vaccination program for health workers rolling out only from February 8.
Public resentment over officials receiving vaccinations — despite there being no date for a wider immunization drive — has seen at least two government officials resign.
Peruvian media said that Attorney General Zoraida Avalos had opened a "preliminary investigation" against ex-president Martin Vizcarra and others responsible for the early vaccination of senior officials.
Top diplomat Elizabeth Astete tweeted Sunday that she had received the jab last month, calling it a "serious mistake" and saying she would not get a second dose.
Declaración pública. pic.twitter.com/yFbtGzjHMG
— Elizabeth Astete Rodríguez (@E_AsteteR) February 15, 2021
Health minister Pilar Mazzetti also stepped down last week following a newspaper report that former president Vizcarra had received a shot of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in October.
Peru only began its immunization drive, starting with health workers, in early February after receiving 300,000 doses of the vaccine.
There is still no date for a general vaccine rollout, but the government has said it intends to inoculate 10 million people by July.
Vizcarra, 57, received the jab just weeks before being impeached and removed from office on charges he was "morally incompetent."
The ex-president — who is now campaigning for a seat in Congress — admitted last week he and his wife had taken part in a vaccine trial, adding he had kept quiet about it as "volunteers have to maintain confidentiality."
Lima's Cayetano Heredia University, which is leading clinical tests of the Sinopharm vaccine, on Sunday denied Vizcarra had been a trial volunteer.
Vizcarra expressed "great surprise" at the university's statement, reiterating he had received two doses as a trial subject.
He insisted there had been no "administrative fault or crime," and warned his actions were being exploited by "enemies of the country."
The scandal has sparked outrage in the South American nation of 33 million, currently facing a second wave of the virus that has seen cases quadruple.
"It is not possible that in the midst of a crisis public office is used for personal gain. Investigation and punishment of those responsible is urgently needed," President of the Peruvian Congress Mirtha Vasquez told America TV.
Peruvian media has speculated there may be numerous officials who are already vaccinated, prompting Sagasti's chief of staff and 12 other ministers to state they have yet to be immunized.
The 76-year-old president was publicly vaccinated last Tuesday alongside health personnel.
Peru has recorded more than 1.2 million coronavirus cases and over 43,700 deaths.
Pharma giants Sanofi and GSK said on July 29, 2020, that they have agreed to supply Britain with up to 60 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement covers a vaccine candidate developed by France's Sanofi in partnership with the UK's GSK and is subject to a "final contract."
This thread collects some of the major developments in the search for a vaccine to ease the new coronavirus pandemic. (Main photo by AFP/Joel Saget)
As negotiations towards a new pandemic treaty pick up pace, observers warn of watered-down efforts to ensure equitable access to the medical products needed to battle future Covid-like threats.
Shaken by the pandemic, the World Health Organization's 194 member states are negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next catastrophe, or even prevent it altogether.
The process is still in the early stages, with the aim of reaching an agreement by May 2024.
But critics warn that revisions being made to the preliminary negotiating text are weakening the language -- notably in a key area aimed at preventing the rampant inequity seen in access to vaccines and other medical products during the Covid pandemic.
"I think it is a real step backwards," Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP. — AFP
Africa's first mRNA vaccine hub is ceremonially launched on Thursday to acclaim from the UN's global health chief, who hailed it as a historic shift to help poor countries gain access to life-saving jabs.
The facility was set up in the South African city of Cape Town in 2021 on the back of the success of revolutionary anti-Covid vaccines introduced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
"This precious project... will bring a paradigm shift in addressing the serious problem we faced, the equity problem, during the pandemic, so (that) it's not repeated again," World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells a media briefing to mark the inauguration. — AFP
China has approved its first locally developed messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, its manufacturer said Wednesday, months after the relaxation of strict Covid-zero regulations sparked a surge in cases.
The vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, has been approved for "emergency use" by Beijing's health regulator, the company said in a statement.
It showed high efficacy in a trial in which it was used as a booster shot for people who have been given other types of vaccines, the company added, without offering further details. — AFP
COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax raises doubts about its ability to continue its business, announcing plans to cut spending after struggles in rolling out its coronavirus jab.
Shares of Novavax plummeted 25 percent in extended trading, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.
While the firm should have enough money to fund operations, the situation is "subject to significant uncertainty," it says in a statement. — AFP
The protection against Covid-19 from being previously infected lasts at least as long as that offered by vaccination, one of the largest studies conducted on the subject says.
Ten months after getting Covid, people still had an 88% lower risk of reinfection, hospitalisation and death, according to the study published in the Lancet journal.
That makes this natural immunity "at least as durable, if not more so" than two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines, the study says.
The authors nevertheless emphasized that their findings should not discourage vaccination, which remains the safest way to get immunity. — AFP
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