Two men in their thirties managed to be vaccinated against covid-19 in Mexico City after disguising themselves as elderly, but were discovered and are in prison, the capital’s authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
“In the case of these two young men who disguised themselves and received the vaccine as older adults, both are being held with justified imprisonment,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told a news conference.
The case occurred two weeks ago at a Navy vaccination station in the Coyoacán sector, where only people over the age of 60 were inoculated, according to Cristina Cruz, a mayor’s official.
The men, aged 30 and 35, arrived there with white hair and eyebrows, wearing face masks and plastic masks.
Both presented false IDs and managed to receive the immunizer, but their plan fell apart when they were forced to speak to a servant in the vaccination plan.
“A colleague realized through the voice that does not coincide (with that of an old man) and then the authorities were called,” Cruz was quoted as saying by the UNOTV news portal.
Impostors are now facing charges of identity theft, the official added.
Vaccination in Mexico began on December 24, with medical staff facing the pandemic and now focusing on the elderly, with whom the government hopes to reduce deaths by 80%.
The country reported isolated cases of people being vaccinated, in violation of the program established according to age criteria.
Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that such episodes were rare in the capital.
Government spokesman for the coronavirus strategy, Hugo López-Gatell, blames these behaviors, but said that people who received the first dose irregularly will be able to access the second so as not to waste resources.
The denial of the vaccine to these people “would imply the exercise of an act of justice with public health measures”, he said after the case of an ophthalmologist who illegally accessed the immunizer.
Mexico, with 126 million inhabitants, is the third country most affected by covid-19 in absolute numbers, with 205,002 deaths and 2.2 million infections, according to official figures.
9.6 million doses were applied in the country.