Anger rises as Peru vaccine recipients revealed

 

Peruvians continued Wednesday to express their indignation for what has now become a clear and public picture that in their country even when it comes to life-saving measures, the privileged sector of society will always come first.

The country has seen the resignation of two top cabinet members and two vice-ministers in less than a week after it was discovered that then-president Martin Vizcarra and other high-ranking officials were secretly vaccinated with China's Sinopharm vaccine before the country bought one-million doses for its citizens.

These individuals were given priority ahead of healthcare workers who are battling on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic.

The Ambassador of the Holy See in Peru, Nicola Girasoli, also secretly received the Chinese vaccine against COVID-19 along with almost 500 privileged people, before thousands of healthcare workers who care for the infected in a country devastated by the pandemic.

Girasoli, a 63-year-old Italian, confirmed in a written statement that he was vaccinated for being a consultant on "ethical issues" in the phase three trial that the Chinese state pharmaceutical Sinopharm carried out in Peru since last September on 12,000 volunteers, who are not part of this irregular group of 487 secretly inoculated.

The diplomat received his second dose on February 11, a day after the scandal uncovered by the press that reported that former President Martín Vizcarra had been vaccinated in October along with his wife and brother, which occurred while Peru was negotiating the purchase of Chinese vaccines.

Vizcarra was fired in November, for alleged corruption in other cases.

Pope Francis has said many times that you cannot privilege the rich with the vaccine, and that you need to prioritize the poor and marginalized. The 84-year-old Francis was vaccinated because the Vatican purchased vaccines for all the people who live and work in his territory.

The news of the participation of the diplomatic representative of Pope Francis was received on Wednesday with "indignation" by the Archbishop of Lima, Carlos Castillo.

"I personally think that just the appearance of the list is a reason to ask for forgiveness because I believe that that was a mistake," said  Monsignor Castillo, the Archbishop of Lima regarding Girasoli's participation.

Girasoli has been Apostolic Nuncio in Peru since 2017 and has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for 36 years, serving in various delegations on the five continents.

Also on the list is Dr. German Malaga who was responsible for the Phase Three clinical study conducted in Peru. He was questioned on Tuesday night by Congress during its investigation into the matter.

Among the inoculated privileged are also managers of local private laboratories, lobbyists and children of doctors linked to the Phase Three study of the Chinese vaccine.

The government of interim president Francisco Sagasti announced earlier this week that it had sent the list of the 487 vaccinated to the prosecutor's office, including high-ranking diplomats from the Peruvian Foreign Ministry and powerful officials from the Ministry of Health.

Peru has bought one million vaccines from Sinopharm, but they are not enough to apply them to priority personnel made up of 1.1 million officials, including doctors, nurses, police, firefighters and street sweepers, according to official data.

Peru, a country with a historical shortage of doctors, has seen 310 doctors and 125 nurses who cared for coronavirus patients die in less than a year. More than 500 policemen and 48 firefighters have also died infected.

The South American country registers more than 1.2 million cases of coronavirus and 44,056 deaths, according to the Center for Science and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.