Peru’s foreign minister has resigned amid public outrage over government officials receiving vaccine doses before health care workers, the elderly, and those at high risk. President Francisco Sagasti has accepted the foreign minister, Elizabeth Astete’s, resignation and has announced that an investigation is underway to seek answers as to which senior public officials received the country’s first doses of the vaccine.
Deputy health minister Luis Suárez Ognio has also released his resignation over reports that he too received a vaccine dose before health care workers. The scandal made headlines on Thursday when Peru’s former president Martin Vizcarra confirmed that he and his wife had received the vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. Vizcarra was ousted from office earlier this fall due to corruption allegations.
Read More: Peru’s foreign minister resigns in furor over secret vaccination of government officials