President Lenin Moreno announced Zevallos’ resignation on Twitter after the action generated a huge reaction. He posted the minister’s resignation letter, which explained that his decision to resign was due to the “current political climate”. Zevallos added that he is also resigning his post to “allow the National Vaccination Campaign to continue.”
Zevallos, who oversaw Ecuador’s approach to the pandemic, was attacked after it was revealed that the Ministry of Health had invited a university dean to receive a vaccine before health workers and the elderly.
Zevallos is the third health minister in South America to step down after similar vaccine access scandals.
Peru’s Pilar Mazzetti resigned on February 13 after it was revealed that a group of politicians, including former President Martin Vizcarra, had access to the vaccine before other groups.
On February 20, Argentina’s health minister, Gines Gonzalez Garcia, also stepped down after a journalist revealed that he was part of a “VIP group” that was vaccinated by the health ministry outside the regular vaccination campaign.
Latin American countries were fighting for vaccines earlier this year. Ecuador started its inoculation campaign in January with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
The country reported 281,169 cases of Covid-19 in total and 15,669 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.