Two men in their 30s managed to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in Mexico City after disguising themselves as elderly people, but they were discovered and are in prison, chief authorities confirmed Wednesday.
“In the case of these two young people who disguised themselves and were given the vaccine as older adults, they are both being held with justified imprisonment,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference.
The case occurred two weeks ago at a Navy vaccination station in the Coyoacán sector, where only people over 60 years of age were vaccinated, said Cristina Cruz, an official at the mayor’s office.
The men aged 30 and 35 arrived there with white hair and eyebrows and wearing face masks and plastic masks.
Both presented false ID papers and managed to receive the immunizer, but their plan fell apart when they were forced to speak to a clerk assigned to the vaccination plan.
“A colleague realized by the voice that did not coincide (with that of an old man), and that was when the authorities were called,” Cruz said, quoted by the UNOTV news portal.
The impostors are now facing allegations of identity theft, the official added.
The vaccination in Mexico began on Dec. 24 with health personnel affected by the pandemic and is currently targeting the elderly, with the government hoping to reduce deaths by 80%.
The country has reported isolated cases of people who have been vaccinated who have violated the schedule set by age criteria.
Sheinbaum assured Wednesday that such episodes are rare in the capital.
The spokesman for the government’s strategy against the coronavirus, Hugo López-Gatell, blames this behavior, but has said that people who received the first dose irregularly will access the second so as not to waste resources.
Denying these people the vaccine “would be an act of justice with public health measures,” he said after the case of an ophthalmologist illegally accessing the immunizer.
Mexico, with a population of 126 million, is the third country most affected by Covid-19 in absolute numbers, according to official figures, with 205,002 deaths and 2.2 million infections.
9.6 million doses have been used in the country.