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Beach in Eilat, Israel: "No, there are no plans for vaccination tourism to Israel"
Photo: NurPhoto / NurPhoto / Getty Images
A man with very white teeth and a stethoscope around his neck laughs in a picture on the website of a German tour operator with the headline "Vaccination prices - get vaccinated against Corona while on vacation", with the following explanation below:
»A vaccination price is a three- to four-week vacation and health vacation during which travelers have the opportunity to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in separate doctor's appointments. You can therefore arrange two doctor's appointments during the trip, at which corona vaccinations can be administered. "
A customer advisor said on the phone that there was a lot of demand for these vaccination prices, and many people were currently calling about it.
Travel destinations include Israel and the United Arab Emirates, where large parts of the population have already been vaccinated and the vaccination campaigns are going well.
The trip would cost between € 2,000 and € 3,000, plus the cost of vaccination.
One shot at the beginning, one towards the end of the stay.
That’s the plan.
Three weeks of wellness plus two corona shots - will there be vaccination prices soon?
People all over the world are waiting for their vaccinations.
Whoever comes first usually decides according to how old or sick you are, what risk of infection you are exposed to, whether you work in the medical field or not.
How much money someone can put on the table for a vaccination is - so far - not a criterion.
But warnings have been given for some time against so-called vaccination tourism and bought special rules for the super-rich.
So the risk that people buy access to vaccination doses and thus overtake the queue.
That it is not those who come first for whom a corona infection would be particularly dangerous, but those with the thickest wallets.
When asked by SPIEGEL, the Frankfurt travel company gave a very vague answer.
You cannot yet provide "tangible information".
One is only at the beginning of the planning "whether vaccination prices are possible under reasonable and serious conditions".
When asked whether a vaccination traveler would take the vaccination away from a local person, the company writes on the website: Vaccinations for tourists are only possible if the population of the country has been vaccinated as far as possible.
"It is very important to us that nobody suffers a disadvantage."
A clear answer comes from the Israeli embassy in Berlin.
There, upon request, such plans are resolutely rejected.
"No, there are no plans for vaccination tourism to Israel," said a spokesman for SPIEGEL.
There is »no way for tourists in Israel to get vaccinated.
No vaccination prices are offered. "
Vaccination tourism worldwide - many promises, no real offer
The idea of the German travel agent is just one of more and more corresponding offers.
On closer inspection, they turn out to be good marketing at most.
Because as long as vaccines are not offered to private payers worldwide, such offers are not legal.
Another example of "good marketing" is Knightsbridge Circle, a London concierge club whose members pay an annual fee of £ 25,000.
The Circle reportedly received thousands of new membership requests after its founder, Stuart McNeil, claimed the elite club could fly members 65 and over to the United Arab Emirates for "private appointments with the Pfizer vaccine."
The British Guardian has verified McNeil's claim and exposed it as false.
Accordingly, when asked, Pfizer said that the vaccine was currently only being delivered to state vaccination programs.
There is no "private vaccination option".
The five Knightsbridge members who were vaccinated have a residence permit in the Emirates - and therefore would have received a vaccination without the help of the illustrious circle.
McNeil could not be reached for a SPIEGEL interview, he was taking a break.
In
India
,
too
, some travel companies had speculated about so-called "shot trips" for solvent Indians abroad.
To Great Britain, Russia or the USA, flight plus meals and visits to local vaccination centers.
So far: nothing but unfounded promises.
Not only private companies, but also some countries have discovered the idea of vaccination tourism for themselves, precisely in order to stimulate the ailing national economies and the travel sector.
Cuba is
currently testing its own national vaccine Soberana.
It will be tested in phase 3, should be very efficient and, from spring, tourists will actually be sprayed.
In
India
the idea had been given to dispense the vaccine via the private hospital system.
At the end of last year, the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, announced that it would also deliver the vaccine to private customers.
But that won't happen before summer.
In
Dubai
, the government launched an initiative in October to attract digital nomads, women entrepreneurs and creative people to the country.
One requirement for the "Virtual Working Program": a monthly salary of at least $ 5,000.
In addition to a twelve-month residence permit, applicants also receive: a free corona vaccination.
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In Dubai, here a water park for tourists, foreigners get an annual visa, including free corona vaccination, via the "Virtual Working Program"
Photo: Staffan Widstrand / Nature Picture Library / imago images
Plans fuel debate about fair distribution of the vaccine
These vaccine tourism plans, realistic or not, are fueling the debate about fair vaccine distribution.
The vaccine is scarce all over the world and there are delivery problems.
And there is already a major imbalance between richer and poorer countries: because more than 100 million doses have already been administered worldwide.
The vaccination campaigns start quite differently.
While some countries have been using a domestic vaccine for months, there are delivery bottlenecks elsewhere.
The vaccines are not even available for many other countries.
Should the super-rich actually skip the line in the near future and buy a preferred vaccination with money, the injustice would be even greater.
Experts warn that vaccination tourism will inevitably lead to deterioration in health care for the local population, especially the poor.
The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach also considers such trips to be "very problematic": As a travel agency or tour operator, attracting tourists by promising them a vaccination is an "unethical business model," he told WDR.
In principle, surplus vaccine doses should be made available to other, more needy countries, which would have great difficulty in vaccinating people, according to Lauterbach.
Finally, take another look at the website of the Frankfurt tour operator.
There, on a green button at the bottom, you can register your interest in the vaccination price without obligation.
And "secure one of the coveted places".
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