A new Minister of Foreign Affairs, the sixth in less than a year, has been appointed in Peru after the resignation of the former head of diplomacy amid a scandal linked to the vaccination against Covid-19.
Allan Wagner, 79, who previously held this post (1985-1988, 2002-2003), was appointed on Monday, less than 24 hours after the withdrawal of Elizabeth Astete, the second minister who resigned in a few days with that of the Health.
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The scandal erupted Thursday when a Peruvian daily revealed that former President Martin Vizcarra (2018-2020) had been administered the vaccine from Chinese laboratory Sinopharm in October, a few weeks before his impeachment by Parliament.
Critics then targeted members of the government who received the vaccine discreetly, even before the launch of the official vaccination campaign.
According to Peruvian media, a preliminary investigation has been opened by the public prosecutor.
Faced with the scandal, the Minister of Health Pilar Mazzetti resigned Friday.
Sunday, Elizabeth Astete admitted to having made a
"serious mistake"
by being vaccinated on January 22.
The vaccination campaign started less than a week ago in Peru and is currently reserved for health workers.
However, there is not yet a vaccination schedule for the entire population.
Martin Vizcarra defended himself by saying he had volunteered in the Sinopharm vaccine clinical trial, like thousands of other Peruvians.
While the university in charge of this test denied this claim, he reaffirmed having been part of it.
According to the university, Sinopharm had delivered 3,200 additional doses to Peru, in addition to those intended for the 12,000 volunteers in the trial.
This scandal comes at a time when Peru, one of the most bereaved countries on the planet by the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to its population, is facing a major second wave of contaminations.
More than 1.2 million reported cases, of which more than 43,000 have been fatal, have been recorded in the country of 33 million people.
Peru, where the next presidential and legislative elections will be held on April 11, experienced a deep political crisis at the end of 2020 with no less than three presidents in just over a week.
Martin Vizcarra, dismissed from his post as head of state on November 9 by the deputies, was replaced by the president of the Parliament, Manuel Merino, who resigned after having held his post for only five days, under pressure from demonstrators.
MP Francisco Sagasti was then elected interim president.