Senior police officers in Kaohsiung city of Taiwan sparked an outcry after they were spotted getting COVID-19 jabs ahead of schedule.

The group of high-ranking officers were exposed by one of their colleagues, who witnessed them appearing at the Kaohsiung Municipal Fu Cheng High School last Friday morning to receive their doses. They took queue numbers, waited for their turns, and left quickly after the vaccination was done.

Administrative authorities at the Kaohsiung City Police Department said that they had fought for 30 immunization places for frontline officers who faced a high risk of infection, including five chiefs and 25 other officers responsible for handling pandemic-related work.

Those who were tasked with the relevant work would be prioritized, the Kaohsiung police said. Excluding people who did not wish to receive vaccines, 4,000 out of 7,000 officers had been inoculated, it said.

A crowd of mostly young people was seen lining up outside the Good Liver Clinic in Taipei, raising suspicions that the medical facility was jumping the gun to vaccinate people who did not belong to priority groups, which would include medical workers yet to be vaccinated, anti-pandemic personnel and people at high risk.

The clinic was found to have taken delivery of an extra 10 million doses under a contract with Taipei’s Department of Health. Local Taipei authorities announced on Wednesday that it would hand down a NT$2 million (US$72,200) fine to the clinic, and would investigate the civil servant responsible for the case. Mayor Ko Wen-je apologized and admitted there was “a problem with management.”

Responding to the incidents, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said at a central committee meeting of her ruling Democratic Progressive Party that the government had decided on the vaccination sequence after discussions with experts which took into account public health and social order.

She demanded administrative units, including local authorities, to conduct vaccination campaigns effectively in accordance with the stated sequence. Residents should get a jab only when it was their turn to be inoculated, she said.

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