Evo Morales supports his 26-year-old daughter’s vaccination; Bolivian government considering sanctions

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The ex-president justified the controversial incident based on the fact that his daughter is a public official. Evaliz Morales was immunized despite not being part of the age range being vaccinated in Bolivia.

Evo Morales did not falter when standing in front of a microphone to talk about the case that scandalized a large part of Bolivian public opinion. His daughter Evaliz Morales Alvarado, 26 years old, was vaccinated against the coronavirus despite not suffering any pre-existing conditions and not belonging to the age groups that began to be immunized in the country.

Ex-president Morales explained that his daughter Evaliz was immunized against Covid-19 despite it not being her turn, alleging that she is a civil servant and is “in contact with citizens.” “We were advised that just as teachers are being vaccinated with no age control, I was also told, hopefully this will be confirmed, that all public administration personnel in contact with the citizenry must be vaccinated,” the ex-President told the press.

However, for the moment in Bolivia there is no set schedule for vaccination of government employees of different ages, in contrast to the immunization of people working in education, as reported by Los Tiempos newspaper.

Evaliz, 26 years old and an employee of the Bolivian Attorney General’s Office (PGE), was administered the first Covid-19 vaccine dose on May 24, as confirmed by data verification sites Bolivia Verifica and Chequea Bolivia. Specifically, she was administered the Sputnik V on the same day President Arce was immunized with the first dose.

That day, Bolivia’s immunization plan against the disease was scheduled for people over 50 years of age. On June 1, the Ministry of Labor issued a decree directing the restart of in-person work in the public sector in stages, albeit no provision authorizing the vaccination of civil servants was included, as Morales had assured.

The former head of state – who fled the country after the 2019 election fraud – also pointed out that the focus on the news about his daughter’s vaccination should not be a priority. Morales said that some media are trying to “magnify” this denunciation, as reported by El Deber newspaper.

Against doctors and nurses

For its part, the Arce government is trying to be proactive faced with accusations against Evaliz, although it will target health workers who decided to immunize her. The Executive assured that it will sanction the people who vaccinated the 26 year-old with the Sputnik V.

Despite the evidence and Evo Morales’ own admission, María Reneé Castro, Vice-Minister of Promotion, Epidemiological Surveillance and Traditional Medicine said that “we still can not say if this vaccination is real or not” and assured that “given the complaints” it will be the Short-Term Social Security Supervisory Authority (ASUSS) that will investigate the case, according to Página Siete newspaper.

Vice-Minister of Consumer Defense Jorge Silva was in charge of explaining that those who administered the vaccine to Morales Alvarado and not the PGE official will be sanctioned. The official exemplified with the case of a doctor who intended to advance a girlfriend in the line to protect her against the coronavirus.

“She will not be the offender, but rather the person who administered the dose because it is that person to whom the doses were delivered and who is entrusted by the government to comply with the immunization plan,” Silva said.

In addition, he assured that anyone who fails to comply with this schedule “should be sanctioned” and stated that this crime is penalized with three years imprisonment.

Source: Infobae