Tour for a vaccine: where you can get jabbed abroad

With the relaxation of the global quarantine and the beginning of mass vaccinations in most countries, the tourism industry has begun to recover very actively. Some states are ready to receive guests with covid certificates or negative tests, but tourists increasingly began to wonder whether it is possible to get vaccinated abroad.

Indeed, at the moment, a new type of tourism, vaccination tourism, is also gaining popularity. More and more countries offer travelers to vaccinate already on their territory. As a rule, this is due to the low percentage of the vaccinated population locally and, as a result, the impressive number of doses of vaccines with the expiration date coming to an end.

Vaccination tourism in the near abroad

Bulgaria plans to extensively offer vaccination tours, as well as transfer part of the unused vaccines to poor countries. Mostly this is the AstraZeneca vaccine, so a vacation on the Balkan coast could be quite successfully combined with vaccination.

The same drug can already be used for vaccination in Romania, where the percentage of the vaccinated population is extremely low, and the government has already ordered an excessive number of doses. As a rule, the service is free of charge if you have a foreign passport, and in Romania you also need to have a local phone number in order to obtain an electronic certificate.

There is an opportunity to get jabbed abroad in Poland as well. This service is available to students and employees from Ukraine. This will require a Polish identification code or, if there is none, an electronic referral from a doctor. Those willing to get jabbed can choose from Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines. By default, when registering in the user account, the second option is recorded, but it can be changed without any problems. A similar situation with vaccines is in Serbia, but at the moment the service can only be used by those who visit the country for working.

Vaccination tourism is also intensively developing in Armenia and Hungary. In the first option, the traveler can call any clinic and make an appointment for a specific time to do the procedure. There is also the option of choosing a vaccine from three variants—Coronavac, AstraZeneca, or Sputnik V that is currently not certified by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

In Hungary, only the Russian vaccine is available, and not everyone will get it, but only residents of neighboring countries who live along the border. In the case of Ukraine, only residents of the Zakarpattia region will be able to vaccinate. Belarus is also ready to vaccinate tourists with this vaccine. However, unlike Hungary and Armenia, here this will be a paid service. In order to get vaccinated, foreign citizens will need to pay about 50 euros.

The small state of San Marino will follow the example of Belarus. Here tourists will also be offered the Russian vaccine, however, at a much lower price—for only 15 euros. In addition, those willing to get vaccinated will need to confirm their accommodation reservation.

Vaccination in the USA

The United States of America has become the foremost state for vaccinating travelers. Those who have already managed to get vaccinated in this country note the extremely well-coordinated work of local vaccination centers, of which, by the way, there are quite a few. For instance, in large cities, you can get jabbed even at some pharmacies and without prior registration.

The centers offer several vaccines to choose from. Pfizer that is considered the most effective at the moment is also among them. In order to get vaccinated, you just need to fill out a simple and very short form, and in a few minutes already get a certificate card and go on about your business. Among residents of the Americas, the United States is the most popular destination for vaccination tourism. Citizens of Latin America flock here due to the lack of vaccines in these states.

Slightly fewer people willing to be vaccinated are there in Alaska. To get the vaccine here, one definitely needs to live on the peninsula for about a month (3-4 weeks). Perhaps the only drawback of vaccination tours to the United States is the high cost of flights, the price for them increases due to the intensive flow of tourists.

Where else can you get vaccinated abroad

The number of those willing to spend holidays in exotic countries are also not decreasing, and therefore the Maldives and the popular resort of Bali in Indonesia offered their own conditions for vaccination. Despite the fact that tourism to these places is not yet available, the authorities are already drafting special programs for vaccinations abroad for vacationers.

For instance, the government of the Republic of Maldives is ready to launch the program 3V—Visit, Vaccination, Vacation that will include a range of vaccinations and health procedures for tourists. In accordance with the program, those willing to get vaccinated will be able to choose from the list of vaccines approved by the EMA—AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Sinopharm. Bali guests will be offered only the Sinovac Biotech vaccine. Most likely, vaccination will be paid, but there is no data on the cost yet.

The UAE authorities also decided to give tourists the opportunity to get vaccinated immediately upon arrival in Abu Dhabi. To do this, you will first need to register in a special SEHA application (this is done using a local phone number or a hotline 800-50 for tourists), and then obtain a visa to visit the country (a visa must be issued only by the capital—Abu Dhabi).

During the procedure, you can also choose a vaccine—Sinopharm, Pfizer, or BioNTech. It is known that the rest of the emirates have not yet joined the Abu Dhabi initiative, but this possibility is being considered.

The demand for vaccinations abroad is increasing every day. Vaccine tourism will develop even further when developed countries vaccinate most of the local population, analysts note. Accordingly, there will be much more extra doses, and vaccinations will become more affordable even in poor regions. Now the main difficulties for those willing to get vaccinated abroad are the cost of tickets, as well as the need to visit the selected country twice in a short time in order to get a second dose of the drug.

This, of course, adds costs to tourists, but also has a direct impact on the openness of other countries for visiting. After all, an increase in the number of vaccinated people directly contributes to the end of the pandemic, and therefore to safe movement between countries.