The Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos, reported that the Municipalities will not be able to directly import the vaccines against COVID-19 to implement them, on their own, in their territories.
“Municipalities cannot directly import the vaccine, they have the power to be included in the system to prioritize people, but always through the Ministry of Health and in compliance with the FDA, WHO and EMA certifications,” Zevallos said in Press conference.
On Tuesday, February 23, the President of the Republic, Lenín Moreno, announced that the answer is yes, to the request of several mayors so that they can purchase the doses. He even said that he spoke with the Ministry of Health so that there is the possibility of doing it as soon as possible.
“I don’t think there is a difference between what the President says and what I say. The President said that we are open to the municipalities bringing (the vaccines) and distributing them, but the problem is that there are no vaccines” Zevallos mentioned.
He explained that, for example, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinovac have expressed that they are only going to sell the vaccines to the governments.
The mayor of Guayaquil, Cynthia Viteri, as well as the mayor of Quito, Jorge Yunda, mentioned that they have the resources available and that they have even already spoken with several pharmaceutical companies that are willing to deliver the doses.
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