Members of the dissident CNTE teachers union seized control of two COVID-19 vaccination centers in Oaxaca city on Wednesday and proceeded to pass their associates to the front of the line.

Union representatives were able to take control of the vaccination centers set up at the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca and the Technical Institute of Oaxaca because they outnumbered federal employees known as servants of the nation, according to a report by the newspaper Reforma.

CNTE members stationed at the entrances ushered their associates into the vaccination centers ahead of members of the rival SNTE union. The SNTE members protested but were unable to put an end to the preferential treatment. Some had to wait more than four hours to get a jab.

According to local sources cited by Reforma, the CNTE union asked its members to arrive at the vaccination centers at specific times so that they could be escorted in as groups to receive their booster shots.

The federal campaign to administer booster shots to teachers, most of whom were inoculated with the single-shot CanSino last April and May, began Wednesday and will conclude Friday. Almost 2.7 million Moderna shots will be given to teachers and other school employees, Education Minister Delfina Gómez said.

Nineteen vaccination centers were slated to be set up in Oaxaca but only four offered shots to teachers on Wednesday, Reforma said. In addition to the two Oaxaca city centers, shots were administered at facilities in Tuxtepec, the state’s second largest city, and Juchitán, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec hub.

A campaign to administer booster shots to people aged 60 began in December but has not yet concluded. Mexico is currently facing a large omicron-fueled fourth wave of coronavirus infections, with more than 222,000 active cases across the country, according to the latest Health Ministry estimate.

With reports from Reforma