Political trial against the Minister of Health for altering the vaccination plan

The mismanagement of the pandemic, the alteration of the vaccination plan against COVID-19 and seven other causes prompted Assemblyman Pabel Muñoz (RC) to present a request for impeachment against the Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos.

Muñoz announced that the documents were entered into the National Assembly Secretariat on February 9, 2021, at 4:00 p.m., with 41 supporting signatures, from CREO, PSC, AP, independents and RC.

He recalled that, unanimously, the National Assembly decided to demand from President Lenín Moreno the dismissal of the Minister of Health “for failing the country in handling the pandemic and in the vaccination program.”

There are nine causes that accompany the trial: the shortage of biosafety supplies; insufficient acquisition of diagnostic tests; do not make transparent figures of deaths in excess; lose bodies of people who died during the health emergency; the disengagement of health personnel in the midst of the pandemic; lack of control of executing units of the Ministry of Public Health; shortages of vaccines and medicines during the pandemic; irregular issuance of disability cards; and the insufficient acquisition of vaccines against COVID-19 and the alteration of the vaccination plan.

Regarding this last cause, since the vaccination plan began on January 21, doctors in various parts of the country claimed that there was a preference to administer vaccines to administrative personnel. Minister Zevallos himself vaccinated his mother, who occupied a private residence for the elderly, which was not on the list of hospitals and nursing homes.

Muñoz explained that the process could not be prolonged and that it could even be defined in a month and a half, because, with the reforms to the Legislative Law, the times are exact for a process of political prosecution.

The Legislative Administration Council (CAL) must qualify the process and send it to the Oversight Commission. After a substantiation process, he must prepare a report and it will be the Plenary of the National Assembly who decides whether or not to dismiss him.