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Doctors, property agent nabbed over vaccination scheme in Medan
Each participant of the scheme paid Rp 250,000 to SW, the property agent in Medan, to be vaccinated.
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Police officers escort suspects who allegedly sold COVID-19 vaccinations illegally, during a press briefing at the North Sumatra Police headquarters in Medan on May 21, 2021. The North Sumatra Police have arrested four individuals, including two doctors, over the vaccination scheme in the provincial capital of Medan. (Antara/Adiva Niki)
T
he North Sumatra Police have arrested four individuals, including two doctors, for allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccinations illegally to residents in the provincial capital of Medan.
The four suspects, identified only by their initials, were Medan’s Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary doctor IW, North Sumatra Health Agency civil servant and doctor KS, health agency employee SH and property agent SW.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Panca Putra Simanjuntak said the investigation into the four suspects started after members of the general public gave a tip-off about vaccinations being offered to people not yet eligible for the program.
Based on the information, police investigators uncovered a vaccination scheme involving 50 people in the Jati Residence residential complex in Medan on May 18. They seized 13 vials of CoronaVac, a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese-based pharmaceutical Sinovac Biotech Ltd., during the raid -- four of which were empty as the vaccine had already been administered.
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Panca said the vaccination scheme, which was declared illegal as the participants did not fall within the government's priority groups, was coordinated by SW, a property agent working in Medan.
After inoculating nearly 1.5 million medical workers, the government is aiming to vaccinate around 21.5 million elderly people and 17.3 million public workers in the second phase of the national vaccination drive.
