Vaccine tourism is becoming increasingly common
AFP through Getty Images
It started in December 2020 with reports that Indian tourists were traveling on trips to London or New York to transport guests to parts of the world where they would receive the Covid-19 vaccine. For the same $ 1,777 per person, travelers would stay alone for as long as necessary, and then visit a health center for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, at which cost included in the package itself. Guests would take a short tour around the city before returning home to India. Tourists were also looking to go to Russia for the Sputnik vaccine.
Then came reports of a wealthy Canadian couple pretending to be hospital workers to get the Covid-19 vaccine after they registered a private jet to go to Beaver Creek, a population of 100, mostly of White River First Nation indigenous members. The New York Times rich stockbrokers and executives calling doctors were then reported, asking if they could pay $ 20,000 to get to the top of the queue for a Covid-19 job.
Around the same time, the Florida governor signed an order to prioritize vaccines for people over 65, with no requirement to reside in the state; as a result, many wealthy Americans, including Time Warner boss Richard Parsons, flocked to Florida from other states to jump to the top of the queue. NBC 6 South Florida report that the state also received vaccinated tourists from Brazil and Argentina.
One Florida-based travel agency now runs trips to Israel (for Israeli nationals, the same people currently allowed) for children under 65. Roy Gal, owner of Travel Group Memories told Forever Fox News 35 that people in their 30s and 40s enter the mandatory 10-day quarantine when they arrive in Israel, and then hit the vaccination centers at the end of the day. Gal said that the tourists “wait until the last hour and have a lot of vaccines that they have not given to people and they do not want to be thrown away, so they are literally going to out and about, you know, ‘vaccines if anyone wants it!’ and they just go in and get the vaccine. ” Gal clients pay $ 850 for round trip tickets then about $ 2,000 per month to rent a house for about two months from quarantine to second photo before taking the trip home.
At the beginning of February, The Keeper a statement on how the Knightsbridge Circle, a “travel and lifestyle service” that charges a fee of £ 25,000 a year, advertised Covid-19 vaccine trips to the Emirates for any members over 65. this agreement offers Chinese Sinopharm to members. Covid-19 vaccine and founder Stuart McNeill told the New York Times that the club had received 2,000 applications for membership since the agreement was advertised.
Cuba and UAE launch vaccine tourism campaigns
Dubai has recently launched a bid for digital immigrants to come and work in Dubai for a year of “living and working by the sea” with the added benefit of getting UAE resident Covid-19 vaccine.
Les Echos a statement that Cuba has also taken the light route for its advertising campaign, offering “beach, Caribbean sea, mojitos and vaccines” to people willing to go to Cuba; the country hopes to issue 100 million doses of Soberana 2 to vaccinate people in the first half of the year.
Medical tourism is still common
At the same time, however The New York Times they reported that many Americans are still trying to travel abroad for medical tourism, despite the pandemic, to undergo treatment for ailments or diseases that they cannot treat in the U.S.
Beyond Borders patient global medical tourism guide said Mexico and Costa Rica are the most popular destinations for dental care, cosmic surgery and pharmaceuticals while Thailand, India and South Korea lead for more complex procedures such as orthopedics, cardiovascular, cancer and fertility treatment.