Since this morning, I’ve received multiple copies of flyers that have taken the Indian internet space by storm, offering a month-long trip to Russia along with meals, vaccines, accommodations and transport. Vaccine Tourism, especially in Russia, seemed to be taking off.

Vaccine Tourism Russia Offer

Like you can see, the offer is pretty lucrative and economical for the money being charged, and customised to the Indian palette. 24 days of accommodation, sightseeing in Moscow and St. Petersberg, air tickets, visa support, Indian food and most importantly, two jabs of Sputnik V. Each batch includes only 30 people. The claim is that the first batch is already full.

Do your Due Diligence Please

However, this might be too good to be true, and one needs to check things out before signing up for this deal, even if you had all the money. As per Loveleen Arun, a luxury travel specialist based in Bangalore, there is no approval from the Russian health authoritto vaccinaten of tourists. She tweets her conversation with a colleague in Moscow,

I called the COVID-19 hotline for our city. The operator explained that only Russian citizens and foreign citizens with registration in Moscow, residence permit and Russian health insurance can get vaccinated. The operator stressed several times that for vaccination a Russian health insurance policy is obligatory: this medical service is paid by insurance companies. A simple residence permit or patent is not enough for vaccination.

She also informed me, that at vaccination points in shopping centers you can get vaccinated only if you present a Russian health insurance and a passport.

This is further corroborated by one of the biggest travel and destination management companies worldwide, which put out a flyer in this regard. Over and above the information Loveleen put out, they also state that private clinics are no longer allowed to offer vaccines to tourists and warn against booking such trips.

Bottomline

Russia is open, and Indians can travel there under the air bubble arrangements of India with the country. However, the country is not offering a vaccine to tourists at the moment per various accounts. With that in mind, your trip might just be an expensive holiday to Russia over a vaccine tourism trip which you expected. Make sure to check all the details, even if you are looking forward to signing up for this trip. I’d wait for the first bunch of people to come back before even thinking of encouraging the idea.

What do you make out of these trips for Vaccine Tourism Russia? Do you think this is suspicious or legit?

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