According to an image uploaded by the Presidential House, some vaccines did not enter El Salvador on February 17, as indicated by the Government, but from February 3 last year
A photo uploaded by the Government Secretariat for Communications on Twitter included a detail that, according to versions circulating on social networks, indicates that some vaccines against COVID-19 entered El Salvador on February 3 and not on February 17 in February last year, as the Government officially announced.
If so, the government has kept some of these vaccines in its possession for 14 days, despite the urgency to begin immunizing medical staff fighting the disease.
The vaccines arrived in El Salvador on February 3, according to the airline
Journalist Cecibel Romero, who collaborates with Salud con Lupa, identified that one of the boxes delivered Wednesday night at a health station in Santa Rosa de Lima, La Unión, included a white vignette, which gave different information than indicated by Bukele administration .
VIDEO: El Salvador receives first batch of 20,000 AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19 in India
This eggplant, number 406-0229 9253, as revealed by the mentioned image, comes from a transport from the UPS company, which arrived from Miami to El Salvador on February 3, at 10:17 in the morning. This is how it is recorded in the digital system of that shipping company.
Instead, the government’s official speech is that all 20,000 doses received on February 17 came from a flight from Mumbai, India, from the Spanish company Iberia.
SEE ALSO: El Salvador begins vaccination against COVID-19 for front-line personnel
The finding sparked a series of negative comments against the government’s activity on social networks, which in turn produced a rapid reaction from President Nayib Bukele, who uploaded a tweet underlining his previous speech.
Later, at 11:28 a.m., on Thursday, President Bukele posted another tweet, where he confirmed that there were vaccines that entered the country on February 3, but claimed that it is not a drug against COVID-19.
He explained that the Serum Institute of India is a regular provider of the Salvadoran government and that “Boxes are recycled and used to protect smaller boxes”, which would explain why one of these boxes was used to mobilize COVID-19 vaccines in Santa Rosa de Lima.
According to Bukele, in reality the vaccines that came to the country on February 3 are MMR, ie those that are used against mumps, measles and rubella. However, as recorded in the photo captured by the Santa Rosa de Lima Press Secretariat, the box has a sticker detailing that vaccines must be kept at a temperature between +2 and +8 degrees Celsius, a required temperature. for AstraZeneca for COVID-19, although it is also a standard temperature that applies to other types of drugs.
While official government networks keep images of vaccinating front-line staff, the general population does not know what the Bukele administration has in mind for the rest of the citizens interested in immunization; Also, it is not known in detail where are the 162 vaccination stations announced by the Ministry of Health and their exact cost.