The deadline for an amicable settlement between the Government and this platform created by the World Health Organization (WHO) to distribute the immunizer equitably among all the countries of the world expired this Friday, the Attorney General, Marco Aurelio González, quoted by Nación Media, recalled.

“The country maintains -he stressed- that these funds should be reimbursed because it is money that did not have a consideration, since the vaccines did not arrive in the country within the agreed time”.

The local Attorney General’s Office considered filing the legal claim against Covax after the case is resolved through international arbitration, as one of the options to resolve locally what it described as the “fiasco” of the US$ 5.6 million “that Paraguay disbursed in exchange for nothing”.

The local organization proposed to resort to international arbitration in view of the lack of agreement with the WHO instance, but warned that, at the local level, “the Government will not cover up for anyone”.

We are not going to be accomplices of anything -the Attorney General underlined- and if it is necessary to claim and demand the responsibility of A or B persons, we are going to do it, after the arbitration resolution of this conflict”.

Gonzalez assured that the authorities will refrain from naming names, but “those who are responsible or were involved in any irregularities will be subject to claims, including through the aforementioned lawsuit by the State against those involved”.

The Covax platform is co-led by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for the Promotion of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO, dedicated to “ensuring fair and equitable access to vaccines for all countries of the world.”

ef/arm/lam/ap