Mexican tricksters use disguise to get Covid jabs

Two Mexican men in their 30s managed to get the coronavirus vaccine in the capital by disguising themselves as senior citizens, but were later caught, the authorities said Wednesday.

With their hair and eyebrows colored white, the men visited a vaccination center for over 60s wearing masks and plastic face shields, the city mayor's office said.

Both presented false identity documents and received the vaccine, but their plan fell apart when they had to speak with a worker at the center afterward.

"A colleague realized the voice was not that (of an old man), and that was when she called the authorities," Mexico City official Cristina Cruz was quoted by the UNOTV news site as saying.

The imposters face charges of identity theft, she said.

The country of 126 million, whose official Covid-19 death toll of 205,000 is the world's third highest, has doled out nearly 10 million vaccine doses to medical workers and the elderly.

Mexico's doctors have paid a heavy price in the crisis. At least 3,679 medical staff have died in the pandemic, according to the latest official data.

The toll is the highest worldwide for health workers, according to Amnesty International. More than 877,500 healthcare workers had received at least one vaccine dose by April 7, according to government data, with no breakdown between public or private.              

Mexico has so far acquired 3.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed with Oxford University researchers.

The government has warned that a new spike in infections could follow the recent Easter holidays.