The Minister of Health (Minsa) of Panama, Luis Francisco Sucre, clarified this Sunday that the application of doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 in the National Assembly was approved by the members of the PanavaC-19 Operation Center.

“The PanavaC-19 team, who discuss vaccination strategies, tells me that in effect the Assembly had requested a series of vaccines being within the priority groups. You have seen that we have been vaccinating some groups such as the airport, the AAUD waste collection department, the Idaan, part of the Court, the Ombudsman's Office, and educators. In other words, we have been contemplating these priority groups within which the Assembly was the last," Sucre said.

He said that at no time has he stopped vaccinating and continuing with the phases within the vaccination strategy. "With them we are progressing in phases and gradually ... at no time has the immunization plan been broken," he said.

Sucre added that these are group decisions and that he is part of PanavaC-19, however he was not present at that meeting. "I was represented by the epidemiology team, but according to the research we did, that was what they told us," he said.

These statements contradict the information Sucre said on Friday when he claimed that no COVID-19 vaccines had been authorized for Assembly officials.

As stated by the Legislative Branch on its Twitter account, the Minsa allocated "500 doses of vaccine for essential personnel working in a pandemic, as has been done in the other two State Bodies."

The vaccination plan against COVID-19, which was initially divided into 4 Phases with several stages, has been modified repeatedly without explanation for alleged strategic improvements.

These changes have generated dozens of criticisms and questions from civil society.