Peru vaccine scandal: Ex-president asked for early jab, doctors say - BBC News 2021-02-17, 10(50 PM

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Peru began its Covid-19 vaccination programme drive, starting with healthcare workers, in
early February

Former Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra requested and received an early

vaccination against Covid-19 out of turn, a doctor has told lawmakers.
Features
Mr Vizcarra has said he and his wife were vaccinated as clinical trial volunteers
in October last year.

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Peru vaccine scandal: Ex-president asked for early jab, doctors say - BBC News 2021-02-17, 10(50 PM

But testifying in parliament on Tuesday, Dr Germán Málaga, who led the

vaccine trial, disputed this.

"He asked me for two vaccines," Dr Málaga, of the Cayetano Heredia University
in the capital Lima, said.

Mr Vizcarra was impeached and removed as president by parliament over

separate corruption allegations in November last year. In freezing US, Biden seeks to cool
down politics
Now a newspaper report about his early inoculation has embroiled the former
president and other government officials in another political scandal.

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Former Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra was impeached over bribery allegations last
November

On Monday, Peru's current President, Francisco Sagasti, said 487 people had
been "irregularly" vaccinated with doses of a jab made by Chinese firm
Sinopharm.

Mr Sagasti said these people, including many public officials, "took advantage
How this Mars landing will be
of their position to be immunised with the Sinopharm vaccines that came in
different to before
addition to those used in clinical trials".

Mr Sagasti's revelations came days a^er a newspaper report revealed Mr

Vizcarra, 57, and his wife, Maribel Díaz Cabello, 50, had received early doses of
the Sinopharm vaccine.

Mr Vizcarra has confirmed the report, admitting he and two family members
had received vaccines in October last year.

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Peru vaccine scandal: Ex-president asked for early jab, doctors say - BBC News 2021-02-17, 10(50 PM

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On Tuesday, Dr Málaga told Peru's Congress that Mr Vizcarra had approached

him about being vaccinated on 1 October, when the drug was being rolled out
to 12,000 trial volunteers.

Mr Vizcarra knew he would be getting the real jab, not a placebo, Dr Málaga
said. Volunteers in blind trials do not know which of the two they will receive. Malnutrition is rising across India -
why?
The doctor said he did not believe he was acting irregularly, because he
thought the president needed protection for leading the fight against the
Covid-19 pandemic.

"I did not think about legal, political or calculations," he said.

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The scandal has led to the resignations of the country's health and foreign prepares for jail
ministers, as well as two vice ministers involved in efforts to control the virus.

The early vaccinations of ministers have stirred anger in Peru, which only
began its immunisation drive, starting with healthcare workers, in early
February.

Peru has recorded more than 1.2 million cases of coronavirus, with 43,880
deaths related to Covid-19, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins
University.

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Peru vaccine scandal: Ex-president asked for early jab, doctors say - BBC News 2021-02-17, 10(50 PM

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Peru vaccine scandal: Ex-president asked for early jab, doctors say - BBC News 2021-02-17, 10(50 PM

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Peru vaccine scandal: Ex-president asked for early jab, doctors say - BBC News 2021-02-17, 10(50 PM

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