Ecuador's Third Health Minister to Resign Amid Coronavirus Pandemic Only Served for 19 Days

After spending only 19 days in his post, the health minister of Ecuador stepped down as prosecutors cast investigations towards the vaccine rollout in the South American nation. There had been allegations that well-connected individuals receive COVID-19 vaccines out of turn.

In his resignation letter submitted on Friday, Rodolfo Farfan shared that he was resigning in his position as the head of the Health Ministry of Ecuador for 'strictly personal' reasons. The resignation of Farfan came after came after the raid of authorities in the health ministry and a hospital in Quito, which is the country's capital, regarding the irregularities in the vaccination plan of Ecuador.

According to Aljazeera, Farfan was the fourth health minister under the current administration after replacing the previous health minister, Juan Carlos Zevallos, who resigned in February due to the emergence of reports about his participation in an inoculation effort at the nursing home where his mother is living. Also, Farfan was the third health minister to resign during the pandemic.

Moreover, Zevallos, who is currently under investigation for influence peddling, had also faced the possibility of impeachment in the National Assembly because of his alleged poor handling of the pandemic and an inconsistent vaccination process. Based on the recent reports, well-connected politicians, academics, and journalists in Ecuador were vaccinated when coronavirus vaccinations were meant to be reserved for their frontline healthcare workers and the elderly care homes' residents.

Based on the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University, the country has reported more than 309,000 coronavirus cases. The data also includes the numbers regarding coronavirus-related deaths, which reached 16,400 recorded deaths, CGTN reported.

COVID-19 Scandals

In addition, the country of Ecuador is only one among Latin American countries where scandals in relation to COVID-19 vaccination efforts emerged. But based on the data shown by the government of Ecuador, around 120,000 individuals have received at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine.

On the other hand, in the county of Argentina, large protests were observed as it was prompted by the vaccine queue-jumping, which is considered nationwide as the 'VIP vaccine scandal.' The said scandal forced the Argentine health minister to also step down.

Also, the health and foreign affairs ministers of Peru were forced to step down along with several officials after the revelation that close to 200 officials of the government had received coronavirus vaccines. The scandal turned to worse as officials received COVID-19 jabs even before the vaccines were available to be administered to the general public.

Meanwhile, back in Ecuador, the administration of Ecuador President Lenin Moreno named Mauro Falconi as the new health minister. The term of Moreno will end in May, and a runoff election scheduled for April 11 will see economist Andres Arauz and former banker Guillermo Lasso vie for the next Ecuadorian President, US News reported.

The ongoing pandemic has worsened an already dire situation of the economy of Ecuador, stirring growing discontent among voters in the country. But based on the authorities of Ecuador, they have already arranged to purchase 20 million doses of the vaccine in order to vaccinate the 60% of the country's population that is above the age of 18 by the end of the year.

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