President Lenin Moreno announced Zevallos’ resignation on Twitter after the move led to a major setback. He posted the resignation letter of the minister, stating that his decision to resign 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, came under fire after it came to light that the Ministry of Health had invited a university rector to receive a vaccine for health workers and the elderly.
Zevallos is the third South American health minister to resign after similar scandals for access to vaccines.
Peru’s Pilar Mazzetti resigned on February 13 after it emerged that a group of politicians, including former president Martin Vizcarra, had gained access to the vaccine in front of other groups.
On February 20, Argentine Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia also resigned after a journalist revealed he was part of a “VIP group” vaccinated by the health ministry outside the regular vaccination campaign.
Latin American countries were scrambled for vaccines earlier this year. Ecuador launched its vaccination campaign in January using the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the country reported 281,169 total Covid-19 cases and 15,669 deaths.