The nation is currently in the middle of a medical panic after several people were arrested for producing fake vaccines in South Tangerang last week. After further police investigation, it turned out that the operation involved 10 people who have been producing fake vaccines since 2003, with their product being distributed in the provinces of Banten, West Java, and Jakarta.
Today, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama spoke to the press to confirm that four hospitals in Jakarta have indeed been buying fake vaccines from the suspects.
“There are four actually, but the [official] report hasn’t come in,” Ahok said at City Hall today, as quoted by Merdeka.
“The Health Agency will take care of it.”
Ahok did not name the four hospitals, nor did he say whether they are publicly or privately run.
The police say that out of the 10 suspects, five ran the production of the fake vaccines while the rest were tasked with selling them at much lower prices than regular vaccines. The producers profited around Rp 25 million per week while the sellers received Rp 20 million per week from the operation, which suggests that it was large in scale.
The police are now investigating whether hospitals and clinics were also involved in the fake vaccine scheme.
Update: The police now say there are 15 suspects in the production and distribution of fake vaccines. Authorities also found evidence that the fake vaccines have been distributed to Semarang, Yogyakarta, and Medan, on top of unspecified locations in the provinces of Banten, West Java, and Jakarta.
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