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This Tuesday, during his visit to Mexico, the president of Argentina Alberto Fernández asked the Justice to end the “clowning” around the case known as ‘VIP vaccination’, controversial over the alleged privileged access to immunization against Covid-19 by people close to power. Meanwhile, and in a joint statement, his counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) referred to the UN to guarantee equal access to antidotes, given the complaints of drug hoarding by rich countries.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández met with his counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador this Tuesday, February 23, in Mexico City, a day after arriving in this country as a special guest for the ceremony to commemorate the 200 years of the promulgation of the Plan of Iguala, who established the bases to declare independence from Spain.
In a joint press conference, the leaders referred to the common challenge of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. When questioned about the scandal for the so-called ‘VIP vaccination’, for which the former Minister of Health Ginés González García was accused of being allegedly involved in favoring the irregular and early immunization of at least 70 people close to power in his country, Fernández He noted that there is an exaggeration surrounding this case.
“Let’s end the clowning. I ask the prosecutors and judges to do what they should (…) There is no criminal offense in Argentina that says ‘whoever vaccinates someone who went ahead in line will be punished.’ this crime and crimes cannot be constructed, “said the Argentine president from the National Palace of Mexico City.
🎙 “If you want to, you have many crimes to investigate: the business of wind farms and Macri’s tolls, the emptying of Congress, and so on. Look at everything there is to investigate and do not investigate ”. President @alferdez at a press conference with Manuel López Obrador. pic.twitter.com/uNoqWwDXeX
– Alberto Fernández Prensa (@alferdezprensa) February 23, 2021
Fernández recalled that he himself requested the resignation of the then Minister of Health, considering that it was a “serious enough” event, but he also justified what happened. He said that the early immunization by various public officials should not be referred to as an “irregular” situation; because people with strategic positions were included, so it was “absolutely reasonable” that they were inoculated.
The head of state stressed that he applied the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to give the population confidence about the drug, after what he called a “ruthless campaign” by the opposition to say that it was a “poison”.
“They even denounced me for distributing poison. And now it turns out that those who denounced me ask me to please give the poison to them and to get more poison,” he ironically.
The UN “is adorned”: AMLO attacks for hoarding vaccines
For his part, the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, took advantage of his intervention to attack the hoarding of vaccines by the most developed nations.
As a result, AMLO spoke out against what he considers inaction by the United Nations (UN) to prevent it.
The Mexican ruler declared that the mechanism known as COVAX, which emerged to guarantee the equitable distribution of immunizations against Covid-19 in the world, including the poorest nations, is “not working.”
López Obrador highlighted that, although 190 countries are subscribed to that system, 80 have vaccines, but only 10 of them accumulate 80% of the antidotes.
“There are more than 100 countries that do not have a single vaccine. It is unfair. Where is the universal brotherhood? So the UN has to intervene, because it looks like a vase, it is an ornament and it is an agreement of all governments that must be enforced. Most of the peoples agree on this ”, he stated.
The Mexican president stressed that Latin America is precisely one of the regions with the least access to inoculations. “We just one percent, Chile is the one that carries the most: 15 percent of its population. Argentina, like us, one percent. They have made a great effort. Peru, 166,000; Costa Rica, 96,000; Panama, 47,000; Bolivia, 10,000; and the Dominican Republic, 373, “he said.
Last week the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, denounced the monopoly of vaccines by the richest countries. According to the international vaccination count prepared by the University of Oxford, so far this year the countries with the most accumulated doses, for every 100 people, are: Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, followed by the European Union, which houses to 27 nations.
However, and to put an end to this trend, Guterres proposed a plan led precisely by the countries identified as responsible for this inequity, so it is uncertain whether this dynamic will turn around to allow greater access to immunization to countries on the way. developing.
With EFE and local media
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