LIMA, Peru – The hope brought by the arrival of the first vaccines in South America is growing in anger as inoculation campaigns lead to scandal, fraud and corruption, which have frightened national governments and confidence in the political institution.
Four ministers in Peru, Argentina and Ecuador have resigned or are being investigated this month on suspicion of receiving or giving preference to rare coronavirus shots. Prosecutors in those countries and in Brazil are still investigating thousands of allegations of irregularities in vaccinations, most of which involve cutting local politicians and their families.
As accusations of wrongdoing let down more dignitaries, tensions are building in a region where the outraged outrage over inequality and inequality has spread in recent years to fierce protests against the political status quo. The frustration could once again find an outlet in the streets – or at the polls, which could shape voters’ decisions in upcoming races such as the Peru election in April.
“They all knew patients were dying,” said Robert Campos, 67, a doctor in the Peruvian capital, Lima, of the country’s politicians. “And they vaccinated all their little friends.”
The anger against powerful lines was intensified by the scarcity of vaccines. South America, like other developing regions, has struggled to procure enough doses because rich countries have bought up most of the available supplies.
Dr. Campos said he did not make the vaccination list when limited doses arrived for hospital staff last week.
South America was devastated by the virus and, according to the official version, accounted for almost a fifth of all deaths worldwide – despite the fact that they represent about 5 percent of the world population. Mortality rates indicate that the actual toll of the pandemic in the region is at least double the official numbers.
The virus also collapsed national health care systems, plunged millions into poverty and plunged the region into its worst economic crisis in modern history.
Despite the heavy toll, the pandemic has sharpened public support for most governments in the region, as several have offered financial support to their population and called for unity.
Analysts warn that the vaccine scandals could end this goodwill and usher in a new wave of instability.
“People find it much harder to tolerate corruption when health is at stake,” said Mariel Fornoni, a Buenos Aires poller.
The scandals reflect similar cases in Lebanon, Spain and the Philippines – and the United States, where there have also been cases of elite access to early shots and unequal distribution across racial and ethnic groups.
In Latin America, the shameless nature of some cases has provoked outrage.
In Peru, a deputy health minister was vaccinated with extra doses from a clinical trial, along with his wife, sister, two children, a cousin and a niece. The Ecuadorian health minister has sent doses of the country’s first vaccine group, which the government says is reserved for the public sector, to a luxury private nursing home where his mother lives.
A leading Argentine journalist announced in a radio interview last week that he had shot a chance at the health ministry after calling his friend, who was then the health minister, calling the locals a “VIP immunization clinic “for government associates. In Brazil, prosecutors arrested the mayor of Manaus, a northern city destroyed by two waves of coronavirus, on suspicion of having access to allied vaccines.
And in Suriname, the 38-year-old health minister assigned the country’s first vaccine intake to set an example. ‘
As the outbursts flooded in, citizens across South America turned to social media to expose the abuse and identify the alleged lineouts. Doctors and nurses in Peru protested outside hospitals last week to demand vaccinations as the country’s vaccine transplant scandal escalated.
Health ministers resigned in Peru and in Argentina, where the former official has been charged with abuse of power; Ecuador’s health minister is facing an indictment and a criminal investigation.
According to the official version, the vaccine scandals resounded particularly strongly in Peru, where the pandemic killed more than 45,000 people, although the excessive death toll suggests that the actual toll could be more than double the number.
Earlier this month, the doctor who performed the first vaccine test in Peru admitted that he had vaccinated nearly 250 politicians, celebrities and their family members, as well as university administrators, interns and others, with unprecedented extra doses. Some received three doses, according to the director of the trial, Dr Germán Málaga, in an attempt to maximize their immunity.
The scandal has sparked a nation that has already withdrawn from a series of corruption investigations that have expressed confidence in democratic institutions and enslaved all six of the country’s youngest former presidents.
Only one of the former presidents, Martín Vizcarra, left office with high approval ratings, thanks to his hard-line stance on corruption. Now Mr. Vizcarra became embroiled in the vaccine trial scandal after it was revealed that he was secretly given a chance while in office before Peru even approved or bought any vaccines. He then tried to cover it up.
“We thought he was a good person,” said Ana Merino, a Lima newspaper salesman whose husband died last year of Covid. ‘To whom can we turn? Who’s left? ‘
The list of those who illegally benefited from the vaccine trial in Peru includes the health minister, vaccine regulators, the academic host of the trial and even the Vatican envoy to the country. The envoy, Nicola Girasoli, told local media he received the vaccine because he was an ‘ethical consultant’ for the university conducting the trial.
After his resignation, Pilar Mazzetti, Peru’s health minister, said the injection was ‘the biggest mistake of my life’. Another politician who took advantage of the trial, Foreign Minister Elizabeth Astete, also quit after arguing she “did not have the luxury” of getting sick.
The vaccination scandal could push the Peru general election in April and favor candidates who promise a radical break with the current political system, said Alfredo Torres, head of the polling company Ipsos in Lima.
Among them are Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a former president who is in prison, who said she would turn Peru into a ‘demodura’, a mixture of Spanish words for democracy and dictatorship, and Rafael López Aliaga, who suggested that corruptions be given death sentences to politicians.
Because most countries in the region have so far received only a small fraction of the vaccines they need, different groups have taken the lead.
In Peru and Venezuela, the governments said security forces would be preferred along with the health workers, resulting in protests from the medical community.
In Brazil, which has vaccinated only 3 percent of its population, a third of the 210 million people are now included in the priority list, far exceeding the number of available doses. The group includes veterinarians who have argued that they work in healthcare; truck drivers, who threatened to strike if they did not get the vaccine; and psychologists, firefighters and builders.
The confusion was exacerbated by the Brazilian government’s decision to partially delegate the vaccination order to local officials, which led to a kaleidoscope of conflicting rules. Some prosecutors investigating the vaccine transplant said the bureaucratic chaos could have been deliberately intensified to hide the cronyism and corruption.
“Doctors call me all the time and say they are scared to death,” because Edmar Fernandes, president of the medical union in the Brazilian state of Ceará, could not get vaccines. “This type of corruption kills.”
Mitra Taj reported from Lima; Anatoly Kurmanaev of Caracas, Venezuela; Manuela Andreoni of Rio de Janeiro, and Daniel Politi of Buenos Aires.
Additional reporting contributed by Isayen Herrera of Caracas, Venezuela; Ank Kuipers of Paramaribo, Suriname; José María León Cabrera of Quito, Ecuador, and Jenny Carolina González of Bogotá, Colombia.