Vaccine tourism is booming on this nation: Here is why

While most of the people in the world are struggling to get enough Covid-19 vaccines, Serbia faces a different battle – how to convince its citizens to get the life-saving shot.

The small Balkan country has so many vaccines that it even offers shocks to any foreigner who can get themselves there, triggering an influx of thousands of “vaccine tourists” from neighboring countries.

The situation is the result of a diplomatic battle between East and West, in which Belgrade signed contracts for nearly 15 million doses of vaccine for its seven million inhabitants.

With around three million doses – a buffet made up of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Sinopharm – and two million doses already administered, one of the poorest corners of Europe has quickly become one of the fastest vaccines on the continent.

However, according to the government, little more than a quarter of those entitled to the precious shot applied for one.

After Serbia vaccinated most of the people who were vaccinated, the pace began to slow.

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In the last two weeks of March, the number of people receiving their first dose dropped to around 12,000 daily, roughly half the number in the same period in February. This is evident from data that AFP has collected from official sources.

Serbia took the extremely unusual step last week of offering foreign citizens the opportunity to apply for the shot. Migrants were also offered the vaccine.

The authorities also asked Serbian citizens who had not yet been vaccinated to simply show up without an appointment.

“I beg you, folks, get a vaccine,” pleaded Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic.

“We have them and we will have more, I beg you, in the name of God, take them,” he said.

Serbian doctors fear the shock absorption has peaked.

“It is clear that there are not enough people willing to be vaccinated,” the president of a medical union, Rade Panic, told AFP.

According to Serbia’s leading epidemiologist Predrag Kon, a lack of interest is “only a consequence” of the online spread of misinformation about vaccines by fearmongers.

“I’ve been doing this job for many decades and I’ve seen its persuasiveness,” said Kon, adding that “one or two percent” of anti-Vaxxers “can easily affect up to 50 percent of the undecided.”

Many citizens who are reluctant to receive the vaccine do not consider themselves anti-Vaxxers.

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“In these crazy times, I have serious doubts … mainly because of the lack of information from the relevant institutions,” Ivan, a 32-year-old restaurant owner, told AFP.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar has proposed banning content that undermines the vaccination process from social media platforms while police cracked down on vaccine skeptics and arrested five of them last week for “panic”.

But Serbia has long been a breeding ground for misinformation, fueled by a lack of trust in the government and other institutions characterized by corruption and a lack of transparency.

A survey conducted in October by the Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) for the Balkans in Europe found that more than half of respondents in the region did not plan to get vaccinated.

“They (Serbian citizens) do not trust the way the state communicates about the vaccines,” said BiEPAG researcher and Balkan expert Florian Bieber to AFP.

The suspicion is also fueled by a handful of doctors, some of whom have gathered hundreds of thousands of followers on social networks and are regularly featured in the national media.

“There is a general distrust of science that has not necessarily been encouraged by the government over the past year, but by the media that are close to it,” added Bieber.

In March, thousands took part in a protest in Belgrade against Covid-19 curbs and were seen holding hands at a traditional Serbian dance.

Virologists warn that slow immunization combined with a raging pandemic is the most dangerous combination for new variants to develop, including those that could become resistant to the vaccine.

“We have to be aware that the vaccination process has to be faster than the virus,” said virologist Ana Banko to the public broadcaster RTS.

The president himself has so far dodged the needle, despite trumpeting his vaccination endlessly in the local media.

Vucic believes that “half a million” citizens will follow his example in just a week once he’s finally vaccinated.

Doctors are less optimistic.

“A scenario with sudden, massive interest in vaccinations is unlikely,” Panic told AFP.

Doctors agree that “a number of people who idolize Vucic” will choose to get a shot afterward.

However, they currently believe that vaccinating the desired 65-80 percent of the population remains a distant goal.