The hearing of precautionary measures was held virtually on Saturday evening | Photo: Twitter @abi_bolivia

La Paz, April 5 (RHC)-- A precautionary measures judge ordered the preventive detention in the prison of Guayaramerín, in the Bolivian department of Beni, of two nurses who are allegedly responsible for the theft of 500 doses of vaccines against the coronavirus, which occurred in the Los Almendros health center.

The judicial authority ordered this Saturday the imprisonment for two months of health professionals Cecilia R. M. G. and Yesenia F. M., who are accused of the crimes of theft and attempt against public health.

In recent days, the Departmental Health Service delivered 500 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to the Los Almendros health center in the town of Guayamerín in Beni, in northern Bolivia, but the following day they disappeared from the medical facility.

The Deputy Minister of Promotion, Epidemiological Surveillance and Traditional Medicine, María René Castro, confirmed that the 500 doses of anticovid vaccines that were stolen on Thursday and returned a day later in Guayaramerín, Beni, will no longer be applied because it is not known if they met the cold chain standards to be administered.

"We have no evidence that they have followed the cold chain; we do not know in what conditions they have had them and by responsibility and protocol these vaccines have been lost, it will not be possible to apply them to the population by security mechanisms," said the authority in contact with Panamericana radio.

Prosecutor Javier Colque requested preventive imprisonment for 60 days for both women during a hearing held on Saturday night in the small Amazonian city of Guayaramerín.  Initial investigations, however, have not yet determined whether they are the perpetrators of the theft.

The women will remain for 60 days in the jail of this locality.  They were charged with the crimes of theft and attempt against public health.  The cautionary hearing was held in the offices of the Special Force against Crime of the municipality of Beni.

According to the report of Diario Digital Riberalteño, the third accused was removed from the process because the Public Prosecutor's Office considered that she did not participate in the act.