"VIP vaccination scandal"

20 February 2021....11:25pm
Those who were vaccinated with links to politics. National, provincial and mayoral politicians, trade union representatives and friends....

....with photographs accompanied by a brief bio on each individual.
 
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/la-explicacion-es-disparate-bronca-ciudad-dichos-nid2608264
20 February 2021....6:38pm....by Matias Moreno
"The explanation is nonsense": anger in the City for Hugo Moyano's sayings about his vaccination.
Hugo Moyano's controversial justification for his vaccination outside the official plan generated outrage at the top of the City gov't. The trade unionist admitted today that he was inoculated with Sputnik V, as LA NACION revealed yesterday, but denied that he was part of the list of "vaccinated VIPs." Moyano said that the vaccine that was applied was part of "the provision" that the City sent to the Sanatorio Antarctica. "I was vaccinated because I am the president of two trade union health plans. There is always a contact and we are the ones who run the highest risk of contagion," said the head of the Truckers Union, in dialogue with radio AM 750.

Those at the CABA executive level have so far preferred not to issue an official response to the Trucker's sayings. Neither the head of gov't, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, nor his number 2, Diego Santilli, nor the Minister of Health, Fernán Quirós, came out to answer him publicly. "It is so absurd that we do not think we have to go out and explain anything about the vaccination process in the City," said a close collaborator of Larreta.

Despite the no comments, an official from the City Cabinet did not hide his anger at the unionist's justification: "Moyano's explanation is nonsense. What does the president of the trade union health plan has to do with it? The vaccines were for health personnel ", he assured, when consulted by LA NACION. That same source recalled that the City distributed the doses of Sputnik V that it received from the national gov't between the 41 vaccination centers, among which are the City public hospitals and the private ones or the health centers associated with trade union health plans", such as the Sanatorio Antarctica, located in the neighborhood of Caballito. "The doses go to the vaccination centers and must be administered accordingly. What this man (Moyano) says is inexplicable. The vaccines are not for the administrative personnel of the hospitals or the directors of "trade union health plans" warned the same source. Per another City official, Moyano sought to dirty the Larreta gov't to defend himself. "He tried to generate an explanation for a reprehensible fact by putting others in the bag. We do not feel that he generates any doubt about the vaccination process in the City. Let him say how they used the doses in the Sanatorio Antarctica," emphasized a minister....The union leader also justified the inoculation of his wife and his youngest son. "My wife and my kid work in the Sanatorio....

.... After the vip vaccination scandal, the national deputy Graciela Ocaña (JuntosXCambio) asked that the Justice investigate "how the vaccines that were distributed to trade union health plans were used." "Because of the Moyano case, it is probable that other union leaders are also vaccinated, because they used the vaccines that had to be destined for the medical personnel of the institutions that deal with each trade union health plan. We want to know what was that vaccination circuit," said Ocaña to LA NACION.
 
22 February 2021
A judge was designated in charge of the investigation for the VIP vaccination. Federal judge María Eugenia Capuchetti was designated in charge of one of the complaints on Monday for breaches of the duties of a public official and abuse of authority against the former Minister of Health Ginés González García, for the VIP Vaccination that allegedly operated in that ministry. The appointment occurred via the lottery system in the Federal Chamber from the first of the complaints made by Yamil Santoro, José Luis Patiño and Rodrigo Forlenza, and along with the magistrate intervenes the federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano....Capuchetti will be the one who receives the rest of the complaints that are drawn today and that were made on Friday outside of judicial hours, that is why the appointment was made on the first business day.

Meanwhile, the rest of the complaints that were drawn, including that of the Federal Prosecutor, Guillermo Marijuan, who acted ex officio, fell on the Federal Court No.6 which was vacated with the resignation of Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, who is subrogated by Capuchetti.
 
In the comments of the pagina 12 articles about this scandal, the readers seem to be most concerned about the political implications. Not that younger people jumped the line in front of the more needy.

Many of the comments are yes this shouldn't have happened, but Marci did worse things, this will be used against us during the election, what were Verbitsky's motivations, Gines was a great minister.
 
In the comments of the pagina 12 articles about this scandal, the readers seem to be most concerned about the political implications. Not that younger people jumped the line in front of the more needy.

Many of the comments are yes this shouldn't have happened, but Marci did worse things, this will be used against us during the election, what were Verbitsky's motivations, Gines was a great minister.
I also read the comments and noticed the same. So they were neither shocked nor surprised by the VIP programme, but left completely puzzled why this journalist would do something like that and betray the "movement".

It goes further: we also have here in this forum some members who don't get tired calling some hotlines for hours, trying to download an app or somehow register themselves online. Do they feel betrayed? NO. They still feel blessed that the government is working seemingly around the clock to get the vaccine into this country. (remember: Argentina is still one of only ten countries that has the vaccine!!)
 
In the comments of the pagina 12 articles about this scandal, the readers seem to be most concerned about the political implications. Not that younger people jumped the line in front of the more needy.

Many of the comments are yes this shouldn't have happened, but Marci did worse things, this will be used against us during the election, what were Verbitsky's motivations, Gines was a great minister.
This is the biggest problem of Argentina. A large chunk of the population treat politics like they treat football - pick a team and go all out in supporting them. No matter how poorly they perform or how scandalously or illegally the conduct of their players, you never, ever switch sides. While these people still count for something in vote there can never be accountability or responsible governance - and without these two pillars of development, all the other issues follow.
 
The most recent article I read this morning on pagina 12, implied that although this happened they are still morally superior because they are angry that this has occurred while the marcristas are celebrating it.

I haven't heard of anyone celebrating. Are a handful of politicians happy because their political prospects have improved because of this scandal? Probably. But there is no large scale celebration, mostly disgust that this type of privilege persists even during a pandemic. And the only reason the pagina 12 crowd is angry is because of the political implications, not angry over the actual act.

Such hamster wheel, mind acrobatics. Why can't they say this was bad, anyone who acts this way should not be part of our movement and we will hold them accountable? End of story. It also would make them look better from a pure PR perspective.
 
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21 February 2021....by Hugo Alconada Mon
Stringpulling, stealing and buying, the variants to get vaccines in the shadows. In some health centers, the remaining doses are bought or friends in the area are vaccinated with them. Source: LA NACION

Three are the irregular routes of vaccination that, until now, begin to appear in Argentina: stringpulling, theft and purchase, as it arises from multiple episodes, indications and testimonies that LA NACION collected during the last ten days. With a key figure: $50,000 pesos is what it can cost to inoculate in the shadows, against Covid-19....


I am purposely omitting the next paragraph where the author discusses the improper vaccination of the journalist, Horacio Verbitsky. The issue has already been treated in another article from LA NACION which I posted on Saturday at 11:51 AM. It appears on page 2 of this thread.

....That network encompassed other friends and those close to power, which with their differences was reproduced in various provinces, while the first signs of a "black market" for vaccines appear that includes the theft or disappearance of ampoules and the purchase of doses for up $ 50,000 pesos, as reconstructed by LA NACION based on the testimonies of hospital directors, doctors and nurses.

The "vip vaccination" at the Ministry of Health, for now, included powerful friends and relatives. Like the leader of the Truckers union, Hugo Moyano (today, 77 years old), his wife, Liliana Zulet (61), and their youngest son, 20 years old. The three were inoculated thanks to a "kindness" of González García, as indicated by the family to LA NACION. By the Health Ministry also passed the national deputy Eduardo Valdés (65 years) and the national senator Jorge Taiana (70).

By age, however, the registration systems for inoculation in the City and in the Province of Buenos Aires are for people over 80 years of age. Why? Because they make up the second "target population", after health personnel and before adults over 70 or 60, as established by the national gov't. However, without an official registry of those vaccinated that is publicly accessible and unrestricted and no data that facilitate the traceability of Sputnik V vaccines - that is, where they were, where they are and how they are circulating throughout the country -, signs and suspicions proliferate, with two risk areas: when the ampoules are thawed, but not all those mentioned are presented, and when the precious content is squeezed out of each vial to the maximum to extract additional doses.

That is where the political stringpulling comes in, and examples abound throughout the country. Among them, those of the national deputy Juan Benedicto Vázquez (54 years old) and the mayors Héctor Vidal (38) and Federico Bodlovic (41), his wife and his driver, as well as a justice of the peace, all from the province of Santa Cruz, where the health personnel have not yet been inoculated.

In Tartagal, Salta province -where only health personnel were vaccinated-, a provincial deputy, two journalists and three social leaders were immunized, while in Catamarca the mayor of Fiambalá, Roxana Paulón, confirmed that she and " all "the mayors, the governor and ministers of the province have already been vaccinated, before the health personnel of the municipalities.

In the Province of Buenos Aires, meanwhile, Chivilcoy registered political short-circuits due to the vaccination of 18-year-olds, some of whom would be linked to La Cámpora. And Henderson focused darts to vaccinate militants and municipal employees, although the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Daniel Gollán, said that only nine people who were not part of risk groups were inoculated because, if they did not use them, "the doses" had to be discarded.

In San Andrés de Giles, the noise around the vaccination reached further. It reached twenty people who were not members of the health personnel, including the president of the Consejo Deliberante and a consejal, both from the Frente de Todos. Both claimed that they were inoculated because the doses would otherwise have been discarded, apologized through press releases and ended up resigning from their elected positions.
 
22 February 2021....actualized 3 hours ago.
By order of Carla Vizzotti. The Hospital Posadas will announce this afternoon the list of vaccinated.

After a long meeting with Chief of Staff Santiago Cafiero, the replacement for Ginés González García announced her first measure to make the inoculation process transparent after the resignation of her predecessor due to the news that there had been privileged vaccinations. The meeting started at 9:30 and was long. The new Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, had a working meeting with the Chief of Staff to share the two axes with which she plans to face her management after the departure of Ginés González García from the ministry due to the existence of a vaccination program where she was inoculated to a group of people not because it belonged to them, but because they used a privilege.

Vizzotti brought to the meeting what he had anticipated: a proposal "for monitoring, periodic information and recommendations on how to vaccinate the strategic population", that is, on how government officials will be included in the immunization schedule, an issue that will need to be addressed. special attention and communication after the case of those close to the gov't who had early access to Sputnik V. And, also, a plan to follow the traceability of the vaccine. That is, what happens with each of the doses once they arrive in Argentina. After the meeting, in the Patio de las Palmeras, the minister announced her first measure: "I instructed the Posadas Hospital to report the entire list of assigned appointments in the next few hours."

It is his first attempt to do damage control on the already public information that in the Ministry of Health and in that hospital there was a group of people who were vaccinated because of cronyism and not because it was their turn. It is her first attempt to do damage control on the already public information that in the Ministry of Health and in that hospital there was a group of people who were vaccinated because of cronyism and not because it was their turn.

Faced with a pandemic in which the vaccine is a scarce good, President Alberto Fernández, when he found out about the practice, decided to ask the resignation of the Minister of Health Ginés González García despite the affection he has for him and the merits that he recognizes. in the management of this pandemic. In fact, on Sunday before leaving for Mexico, the President once again tweeted his thoughts on the subject.

This newspaper learned that the Posadas will release the list on Monday afternoon.

"From the Ministry of Health we are going to strengthen transparency because we have the traceability of vaccines, we have the system of who gets vaccinated and not vaccinated, and we also have the possibility of strengthening that through a much more specific mechanism and more concrete and, clearly, disseminate it regularly because it is a subject of great sensitivity, "said Vizzotti. Speaking to FM Radio con Vos at the end of the meeting she held with the Chief of Staff Santiago Cafiero at Government House, Vizzotti assured that continuing the management of Ginés González García is of great "responsibility" for her and her team and stressed that His management is "not in doubt".

"Following the management of Ginés is the greatest responsibility for us because we understand that Health management is not in doubt with Ginés at the helm, but rather that it was a specific situation that he assumed responsibility for and, therefore, had to leave the Ministry" , she said. When asked about her relationship with the former minister, Vizzotti said: "We spoke when I was going to swear and I spoke yesterday and I will speak with him my whole life." "That the President has given me responsibility and confidence seems to me a very great sign of this vision that we have that we are working to strengthen what needs to be strengthened and continue with the projects that Ginés started not only in the pandemic but in the public health, " she added.

Regarding the situation that led to the departure of González García, Vizzotti noted: "It was a mistake and the appropriate measures were taken."
 
22 February 2021
Carlos Zannini was also vaccinated: he registered as "health personnel".
The VIP Vaccination scandal that was registered at the Posadas Hospital and was made public last Friday when the journalist Horacio Verbitsky whitewashed the offer of the now former Minister of Health, Ginés González García, continues to grow and leave new names in politics. Added to the VIP list was the National Treasury Attorney, Carlos Zannini, who also received the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, registering as "health personnel" in the Sistema Integrado de Información Sanitaria Argentino.

Carlos Zannini received the first dose of the vaccine on January 21, on the same date, as did President Alberto Fernández himself and the officials who share most of the day with him: his spokesman Juan Pablo Biondi, and the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello, according to La Nación. In the case of Biondi and Vitobello, the Government argued that it was on the recommendation of the "Presidential Medical Unit", since they are people close to the President.

In the official records, the place where Zannini, attorney general and one of the leaders closest to Cristina Kirchner, received the first dose of the vaccine is not verified, as recorded in the records by the Argentine Integrated Health Information System, SISA. Nor can it be noted in the records if the place of the prosecutor's vaccination was in a public hospital or in another agency. However, PERFIL learned that the vaccination was also given at the Posadas Hospital, the same one that sparked the controversy over the VIP vaccinated. As reported to this medium, the complete list of those vaccinated will be made public this afternoon and it is a "short" list that is not more than a page.

The current vice president was applied the vaccine as "over 65 years old", a condition that Zannini, who is 66 years old, could also have used...
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With the same justification that he shares activities with President Fernández, it was also known yesterday, Sunday, February 21, that the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, was vaccinated days ago, although in his office.

In a similar way, the legislators from the ruling party, Eduardo Valdés and Jorge Taiana obtained the vaccine, who, due to having to travel in the delegation that is already in Mexico, one of the countries with the most infected in Latin America, and being over 65 years old, received the controversial vaccination at the Posadas Hospital.
 
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