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President Lenin Moreno announced Zevallos’ resignation on Twitter, after the move sparked a backlash. He published the minister’s resignation letter, which explained that his decision to resign was due to the “current political climate”. Zevallos added that he was also withdrawing to “allow the national vaccination campaign to continue”.
Zevallos, who oversaw Ecuador’s approach to the pandemic, has come under fire after it was revealed the health ministry invited a university rector to receive a vaccine before health workers and seniors.
Zevallos is the third South American Minister of Health to resign after similar vaccine access scandals.
Pilar Mazzetti of Peru 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 Minister of Health, Gines Gonzalez Garcia, also resigned after a journalist revealed he was part of a “VIP group” which had been vaccinated by the Ministry of Health outside of the regular vaccination campaign.
Latin American countries were left on the hunt for vaccines earlier this year. Ecuador began its vaccination campaign in January using the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
The country has reported a total of 281,169 cases of Covid-19 and 15,669 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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