San Marino vaccinates international visitors.

Located entirely within Italian territory, it covers an area of ​​approximately 61 square kilometers.²San Marino is considered one of the smallest countries in the world. Much of its territory stretches across the slopes of Mount Titano, with a Mediterranean climate. Winters are humid and cool, while summers are hot and dry.

San Marino has a population of 34,000, so after receiving its first batches of Covid-19 vaccines since February of this year, the country has vaccinated 25,000 people.

Recently, Federico Pedini Amati, San Marino's Minister of Tourism, announced that the country currently has no COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in hospitals. Therefore, the Republic of San Marino plans to invite international tourists to visit and receive the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine from Russia.

"The vaccination campaign for tourists will begin on May 17th and will be open to all international tourists, except Italian citizens. This is entirely feasible given the country's large reserves of Covid-19 vaccines," the minister said.

Specifically, international tourists wishing to visit the Republic of San Marino under the vaccination tourism program must book their hotel rooms at least one week in advance. Additionally, they must have plans for a second trip, 21 to 28 days later, to receive a booster dose of the vaccine. Both doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will cost 15 EUR.

A Russian vaccine supplier has stated that it is ready to provide additional batches of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine so that the Republic of San Marino can conduct a vaccination tourism campaign in the near future.

San Marino is also pushing to issue "vaccine passports"—certifications of full vaccination with two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine—to residents and visitors. However, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the European Union.

Not only in the Republic of San Marino, but many airlines and travel companies are also taking advantage of the opportunity to launch vaccination tourism tours to expand their market. Many wealthy tourists in Latin America have traveled to the US in this way to get vaccinated because in Mexico, vaccination is only available for people over 60 years old. Some travel companies in Thailand have also offered 10-day package tours at a cost of $2,400 per person for such a vaccination tourism trip.

Huyen Chau