Argentina's health minister resigned on Friday following reports that people had been able to use connections to get access to COVID-19 vaccines to which they were not entitled.

"Responding to your express request, I present my resignation from the position of minister of health," Gines Gonzalez Garcia, a 75-year-old doctor, wrote in a letter addressed to the president.

He said that individuals were able to sidestep proper procedures for vaccinations due to "unintended confusion" in his office while he was away.

The scandal broke out after a veteran journalist earlier this week claimed he had received a shot after speaking directly with the minister.

"I called my old friend Gines Gonzalez Garcia, and he told me to go to the Posadas Hospital," Horacio Verbitsky, who is in his 70s, told radio station El Destape.

President Alberto Fernandez reportedly had asked for Gines' resignation earlier on Friday after allegations were made in the media of at least ten people receiving vaccinations without following procedures. 

So far, only health workers have been vaccinated in Argentina, and vaccinations for people aged over 70 only began on Wednesday in the province of Buenos Aires.