Nearly 500 Peruvian Officials Got Vaccinated Against COVID-19 in Secret, President Says

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Over 480 officials in Peru, both from the current and former government, received coronavirus vaccine shots in secret, taking advantage of their positions, President Francisco Sagasti has announced.

"487 people that include a large number of government workers used their authority to get vaccinated with Sinopharm," Sagasti said in a Monday address aired by TV Peru.

According to the president, the officials include civil servants from the former government of President Martin Vizcarra, as well as ex-Foreign Minister Elizabeth Astete and former Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti, who recently resigned.

Astete submitted her resignation to Sagasti over the weekend after acknowledging that she was vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of the mass immunization program in the country.

The minister said that she was offered the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine on January 22, after she came into contact with people who had tested positive for COVID-19 in December and January.

On Saturday, Sagasti accepted the resignation of Peru’s Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti over former President Martin Vizcarra getting vaccinated against COVID-19 early, before the shots became widely available in Peru.

Sagasti received the first dose of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine last week, as the vaccination campaign kicked off in the Latin American nation after Peru received the first batch of 300,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine on February 7. Health workers are first in line to be vaccinated against COVID-19.