Argentina's Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Wednesday denounced the discovery of four million doses of expired vaccines, which were bought by Mauricio Macri's administration (2015-2019) and stored in a warehouse of Buenos Aires city.
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Among the expired drugs were two million flu shots and 600,000 doses of MMR vaccines, which immunize pregnant women and children against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.
"The batches were discovered when the invoices for the storage arrived at the Ministry. This shows that the Macri's administration did not care about the people as it did not distribute the medicine and never informed about its existence," Gonzalez said, adding that the storage of MMR doses is unjustifiable since they had to be used to serve the population.
The vaccines are valued at approximately US$19 million. To this amount, it must be added US$260,000 for storage costs and cargo destruction, according to data from the General Office of the Comptroller (SIGEN).
The discovery of the expired vaccines has prompted strong criticism because it occurred when Macri's supporters violated the quarantine to march against President Alberto Fernandez and his handling of the current epidemiological situation.
Argentine citizens also recalled that the previous right-wing administration downgraded the Health Ministry to the level of a Secretariat, a wrong decision that was reversed when Fernandez took office.
As of Thursday morning, Argentina had reported 312,659 COVID-19 cases and 6,330 deaths