By Corky Siemaszko - NBC News
Shortly before COVID-19 vaccination kicked off last month in the United States, an Indian travel agency called Gem Tours & Travels announced that it was signing up clients for an exciting new package: a four-day trip from Mumbai to New York with a coronavirus vaccine included for about $ 2,000.
"Vaccine tourism," called it Nimesh Shah, the company's business development specialist.
"We only accept registrations from Indians with a US visa valid for 10 years," Shah told the informational website ThePrint, "we are not accepting any money, we are only collecting data for the moment. We are proud to have coined the term
vaccine tourism.
".
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Competitors such as Kolkata-based Zenith Holidays soon began registering clients for similar trips.
Pronab Sarkar, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, condemned the companies for selling these packages.
But Zenith Holidays, which generally does not offer trips to the United States, still has a
Vaccine Tourism
tab on its website
where customers can fill out a registration form and, within minutes, receive an email promising more information.
Screenshot of the Zenith Holidays page.
NBC News
It is not clear how many Indians have signed up for this trip to the United States to get vaccinated, because neither Shah nor anyone from Zenith Holidays responded to emails sent by NBC News.
But the very idea that someone with money but without immediate access to the scarce COVID-19 vaccine could fly to another country to get vaccinated raises as much outrage as ethical questions.
COVID-19 vaccination of tourists before Florida residents questioned
Jan. 12, 202102: 12
In Florida, reports from wealthy Canadians, Brazilians, and Venezuelans, as well as people from other states traveling there to get vaccinated, prompted the state surgeon general to sign a public health notice last week requiring providers of vaccines to make sure everyone who gets vaccinated lives in the state.
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Argentine attorney Ana Rosenfeld, who was visiting her family in Miami last month, got vaccinated in a town near Tampa, about 270 miles away.
"I always wanted to get vaccinated," Rosenfeld, 66, told the Argentine publication Teleshow, "if I had the possibility to do it in Argentina, I would have done it."
But wealthy Americans living outside of Florida have also been able to get vaccinated in the state.
Richard Parsons, former president and CEO of Time Warner, described on national television how he flew from New York to Florida to get vaccinated.
"It's neat and sensible," Parsons, 72, told CNBC, "I don't know how Florida got ahead of everyone else, but you go online, make an appointment and get it."
Neither Rosenfeld nor Parsons were supposed to pull strings or ask for favors.
They were able to get vaccinated because the executive order that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed just before Christmas prioritized vaccinations for people 65 and older, but did not specify that they had to live in the state.
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This changed Thursday when Scott Rivkees, Florida's surgeon general, signed a public health notice requiring vaccine providers to ensure that every person who gets vaccinated is a resident of the state.
"Vaccine tourism is not allowed," said Jared Moskowitz, Florida's director of emergency management, in a statement after learning that Canadians were flying to his state to get vaccinated.
"It is abhorrent, people should not fly here to get vaccinated," he added.
But already nearly 40,000 people, whose address was listed as "out of state," have been vaccinated in Florida, according to state data.
The Florida Department of Health is now investigating allegations that MorseLife Health System, a costly senior care facility in West Palm Beach, administered COVID-19 vaccines intended for residents and staff to members of the Palm Beach Country Club and wealthy donors linked to New York real estate developers Bill and David Mack.
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"Going under that rubric when you are not a resident and you are not a staff member, that is definitely going outside the orientation and the program," DeSantis said.
Residency requirements are difficult to apply because many Floridians are tourists who live part of the year in the North, said Dr. Marissa J. Levine, a professor of public health at the University of South Florida who previously served as commissioner. Virginia State Health Department for four years.
Additionally, the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has also revealed how little work both the Donald Trump Administration and local governments did to prepare what Levine called "an ethical framework" for distributing the vaccines.
"Right now, it is a scarce resource and demand is outstripping supply," he said.
"If you don't have that kind of framework, people with power and money will do everything possible to cut the line. It is clear that it is not right for people with power and money to get the vaccine before everyone else," he added.
And yet they are trying.
Joseph Varon of the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston said people from abroad started asking him for help getting vaccinated last month and he hasn't stopped.
"I get text messages every five minutes from people all over the world, 'Hey, can you give us the vaccine?"
said Varon.
In some cases, they are succeeding.
Gabriel Rodríguez Weber, a doctor in Mexico City, told KPRC 2 Investigates radio station in Houston that "without a doubt, many are doing it."
"All those who have economic means or who have a contact," he said, when asked about the 10 Mexican citizens he was aware of who flew to Houston, San Diego, Miami and New York City to get vaccinated against it. coronavirus.
More than a dozen Argentine business executives have been able to get vaccinated in Florida, The Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported, citing an account from the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarín.
"It is free and it is not necessary to be a resident, just be 65 years old and have not received any other vaccines in the last 14 days," the newspaper said.
As for Canadians, the National Post newspaper in this country reported that elderly residents were flying to Florida to get vaccinated because DeSantis had prioritized people 65 and older.
Therese Gagnon, a retired school teacher and Quebec resident who spends the winter in Florida, said no one asked her if she was a full-time resident when she showed up at a vaccination center in Fort Lauderdale.
"No proof is necessary, only proof of age, which is very good, since we live here part of the year and we could infect our neighbors and friends," he told the newspaper.
"The governor made a very wise decision," he added.