People in Brazil using identity of the dead to get early Covid-19 vaccine

Rio de Janeiro, Mar 19 (efe-epa).- The authorities in Brazil have detected the use of the identities of dead people to get access to the coronavirus vaccine ahead of turn, according to a report released Friday.

The analysis, prepared by the Office of the Comptroller General, verified the priority compliance for some 10 million doses of the vaccines administered in the South American nation until Mar. 10.

“There are cases of vaccines applied to persons who are listed as deceased in the Ministry of Health’s Mortality Information System (SIM) with the date of issuance of the death certificate prior to the start of vaccination,” said the statement released by the Comptroller.

Although the report did not disclose the number of people who have used identity of deceased citizens to get a vaccine, the O Globo portal has estimated about 1,000 such cases.

Major frauds identified included possession of multiple vaccination cards, immunization to people were not under priority group for vaccination, and people posing as healthcare professionals.

According to the study, some 50,000 inconsistencies were reported overall, representing 0.5 percent of the 10 million doses analyzed.

For the study, existing data was crosschecked with those in the official databases in vaccination centers.

The vaccination campaign for the more than 210 million Brazilians began on Jan. 17, but has progressed slowly since then due to lack of enough vaccines.

So far, only 4.5 percent of the population of Brazil has received the first shot of the vaccine and 1.5 percent have been administered both doses.

According to the Ministry of Health, 562 million doses have already been acquired from several laboratories, including those already produced in Brazil (AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sinovac).

Brazil is the current global epicenter of the pandemic with more than 11.8 million infections and 290,000 deaths, only behind the US in terms of caseload. EFE-EPA

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