Latino trip to the United States in search of vaccination (Photo: © Reuters / Jose Luis Gonzalez / Rights Reserved)
Mexico City and Lima – an advertisement from a travel agency offering a promotion for Mexicans to travel to the United States (USA) to obtain a vaccine against Mexico-19. “Do you want a vaccine against Kovid-19? Do you have a visa to enter the United States? Contact us,” the advertisement says.
Thousands of Latin Americans are booking flights to the United States to benefit from one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world, from Mexico to Argentina, while vaccination progress in their countries is progressing slowly.
Latin America is one of the regions most affected by the Kovid-19 epidemic, with more than 1 million deaths this month, and many do not want to wait so long for their turn in the vaccine queue.
Some are processing on their own, while others use travel agencies that responded by offering packages that include vaccinations, flights, hotel stays, and even some extras such as city tours and shopping tours Huh.
69-year-old Gloria Sanchez and her husband, Angel Menendez, 69, traveled to Las Vegas in late April with the aim of taking a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“We don’t trust public health services in this country,” said Sanchez, now back in Mexico. “If we had not traveled to the United States, where I would have felt a little more relaxed, I would not have been vaccinated here.”
Sanchez said a travel agent in Mexico City organized the trip and an associate in Las Vegas led the process on the North American side.
Aide in the United States arranged a time for his vaccination, and then took him to a convention center in Las Vegas, where he presented his Mexican passport and received a dose.
“We decided to turn the trip into a holiday trip and stayed for a week, we went crazy, we ate very expensive but good food, and we went shopping too,” he said.
As demand, Mexico flight prices to the United States have risen by an average 30% to 40% since mid-March, Rey Sánchez, who runs the travel agency RSC Travel World.
“There are thousands and thousands of Latin Americans from Mexico who went to the US to get vaccinated,” the travel agent said.
Reuters was unable to obtain official data on the number of Latin Americans traveling to the United States in search of a vaccine. Travelers usually do not declare “vaccination” as the reason for the trip.
The United States Embassy in Peru recently reported on Twitter that people are seeking U.S. treatment for medical treatment, including vaccines.
In Argentina, an advertisement in Buenos Aires details the estimated cost of vaccinations in Miami: airfare US $ 2,000, hotel US $ 550 for a week, meals US $ 350, car rental US $ 500, vaccine US $ 0, total $ 3,400.
Latin Americans who traveled to the United States on a tourist visa with whom Reuters spoke said they were able to get vaccinated with identity documents from their countries of origin.
* Anthony Esposito, Cassandra Garrison and Marco Aquino – Reuters information
