Argentina's health minister fired over vaccine line-jumping

Argentina's Alberto Fernandez fired on Saturday his country`s Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia after the latter gave a coronavirus vaccination preferentially, according to a well-known local journalist.

Fernandez “instructed his chief of staff to request the resignation of the health minister,” who is in charge of the government’s COVID-19 strategy, said a government official, who was not authorized to release the information and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

This came on the heels of reports in recent days that mayors, legislators, activists and people close to political power received vaccine shots despite not being in the priority group of doctors, health personnel and the elderly authorized to receive them.

In a tweet, Garcia said he acceded to the president's request to step down, but insisted he was forced out over a “misunderstanding.”

Garcia added that the “vaccinated people belong to the groups included within the target population of the current campaign.”