Syringe scandal: Peru probes nurses who injected people with only air, not Covid-19 vaccine
- Peru’s health ministry said there were three reported cases of empty syringes
- President calls scandal very worrisome, could be criminal in some cases
Peru’s Health Ministry said it was investigating nurses who were accused of trying to inoculate patients with empty syringes during the country’s coronavirus vaccination campaign.
The ministry said the three known cases were reported in the capital during a campaign that began in March to apply more than 2 million shots.
“These three cases are fully identified, both the people and the places,” said Health Ministry spokesman Arturo Granados. He declined to identify the nurses involved and said the results of an investigation would be released Thursday.
Authorities haven’t provided a motive for the allegedly flawed vaccinations, though President Francisco Sagasti said on Tuesday that it “is something very worrisome and could even be criminal in some cases”.
Miguel Olave told the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio that his mother, Margarita Moreno, was vaccinated on April 30 in a Lima sports centre and they noticed the nurse at first tried to inoculate her with an empty syringe. After they objected the nurse switched the syringe for one with vaccine in it.
Peru, a country of 33 million people, has registered some 1.8 million coronavirus infections and more than 64,000 deaths.