The vaccination paradise exists in Europe: foreigners are vaccinated without a queue, without money, without major formalities, as if they were their own.

What state could be called a vaccine paradise? We bend our fingers. One in which there are no missing doses. One in which there are no queues for those who want to get vaccinated, because there are simply no queues. One in which there are no priority population groups, by age, health status or occupation, because the conditions for everyone to receive the vaccine are the same. And another in which you can freely choose the vaccine, one of the most popular: English, American, Chinese or Russian. Of course, in vaccination heaven, the vaccine will be completely free regardless of the manufacturer chosen.

Are all the criteria listed already? Not yet. Foreigners who arrive in the paradise of vaccines are vaccinated without queues, without money, without major formalities, as if they were their own. And that’s not all. Tens of thousands of doses of vaccines are shipped to neighboring countries from paradise. Just take it, just get vaccinated!

Are we going to get vaccinated in Serbia? Italians were the first to discover European vaccination havens. After a travel agency in Bologna announced a package of vaccine travel to Belgrade, there was a stir: hundreds of Italians planned to travel to Serbia in a matter of hours. And not just Italians – the tour operator was interested in the Swiss, the Austrians, the Germans.

The price of the trip is 500 euros. Includes: round trip bus, two nights, selected vaccine, interpreter services, short cultural excursion program in Belgrade. In two business days, this tour package was purchased by more than 500 clients of the agency.

Saul from Belgrade: “We have freedom”

“We did not have severe quarantine bans, and even if there were, people reacted quite freely. Everything was as if by itself, without much tension. The vaccination campaign is progressing smoothly, anyone can choose the vaccine freely,” Saulius described Veržikauskas, a Lithuanian from Jurbarkas, who lived here, the situation in the Serbian capital to a journalist from Delfi.

“I have been in Belgrade since 2004, I came here to buy scrap metal. At that time, rumors were circulating in Lithuania that in” Yugoslavia “(nobody delved into the fact that this country no longer existed because it had already collapsed in several independent states), they were thrown away lots of non-ferrous metals on the roads, all that was needed was to collect and sell expensive. Of course, this is a myth, but I enjoyed life in this country, so I stayed, “says the Lithuanian Serb.

“Currently I am working online, I sell extra virgin olive oil from Spain. My clients are in Lithuania. Here in Serbia, I like good food, not too expensive, wine, good weather and a neighborhood of good countries. It takes about 6 hours to get to Italy by car, I can even visit Istanbul, it would take me about 10 hours. I no longer talk about our closest neighbors: Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Greece, “he says.

S. Veržikauskas claims that strict quarantine was introduced in Serbia last spring, but movement restrictions lasted for only a few weeks. Currently, the work of supermarkets is allowed, hairdressers and other service companies are open, cafes and restaurants can work on the outdoor terraces until 10 at night. Of course, masks are still mandatory in tight spaces and on public transportation, but wearing them has become less a means of protection than a reluctance to leave the environment. There are many trips throughout the country, these prohibitions are ignored in the province. “

A Lithuanian living in Belgrade claims that the success of Serbia’s vaccination campaign was determined by the government’s moderate strategy: “It was decided not to politicize vaccines and their manufacturers, so there is no shortage of them. As far as I know, mass production of the licensed Sputnik vaccine will begin at the Torlak Pharmaceutical Institute from May 20.

By bus, plane or car?

Foreigners from European countries are declaring an influx of vaccines in Serbia. According to the Italian news portal The Post Internazionale, more than 80,000 foreigners expressed their wish to be vaccinated in April.

However, in the vaccination paradise of the Balkans, not everything is easily accessible, not everything is understood. First of all, there is the problem of travel costs: direct flights are operated by few companies and tickets are not cheap. Therefore, travel agencies often transport vaccine tourists by minibus. It is not a very comfortable trip, because, for example, it takes about 12 hours one way from Milan, 13 from Rome and 7 from Vienna. Some vaccine tourists choose to travel to Belgrade in their own car, but transit through various countries requires interpretation of quarantine, negative tests, and other formalities, which are interpreted differently in different countries and are constantly changing.

Those who wish to come and get vaccinated must complete and submit the online application form in advance on the Serbian government portal. Still, this is not a very simple operation, as the form is presented in Serbian – Cyrillic. Also, a mobile phone must be specified, but it is not possible to provide a foreign mobile operator, but a Serbian one.

The free choice of the vaccine officially declared in Belgrade is not always available to foreigners either: many ask about Pfizer or Moderna, but more than one has to accept an offer to be vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik or the Chinese Sinopharm.

Ambassador: “Focus on yourself”

“Vaccine tourism project? No, we do not have such a project, we are not developing it and we do not promise to do so, ”said the Serbian ambassador to Italy, Goran Aleksičius. “We ask that you do not travel to Serbia until you have completed the government’s online application form and received a specific response. At the moment, our priority is to immunize the Serbian population. Do not believe the advertising of vaccine tourism in Serbia “.

Still, the diplomat admits: “Although we have not done tourism with vaccines, we have a goodwill policy: to help those we can help. We have seen a very difficult epidemic situation in the region. Evaluating that we had enough vaccines, we decided to help our neighbors: we gave Macedonia 40,000 doses of vaccine. We also help Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. “The ambassador makes no secret: his state vaccinated 40,000 people who did not have Serbian citizenship on its territory for free.

When asked where the recipe for an effective vaccination campaign is, G. Aleksičius explains: “We started vaccination early, on December 24 last year. And although we joined the international COVAX program, we quickly realized that the dynamics of vaccination did not satisfy us. We decided to find ways to buy vaccines ourselves. Much was determined by the excellent geopolitical situation in Serbia: we have good relations with all international partners: with the EU, the US, Russia, China. We buy Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Sputnik, Sinopharm vaccines directly. We started the mass vaccination on January 19. Belgrade currently has the largest vaccination center in the country, with 28,000 residents and foreigners vaccinated every day ”.

The ambassador acknowledged that the most popular vaccine in Serbia is the Chinese Sinopfarm. An experimental Russian Sputnik vaccine has already been produced in the country and mass production will begin soon.

During the conversation, the Delfi journalist asked the head of the diplomatic mission: “How does Serbia, associate member of the EU, assess the activities of Brussels in organizing the supply of vaccines to member states? In this context of errors, delays, lack of communication with producers, hasn’t Belgrade’s position on EU membership changed? “

G. Aleksičius replied: “EU membership remains a strategic direction of our foreign policy. I believe that the success of the vaccination project is precisely what shows that we are a European country capable of carrying out complex projects. At the moment, we have the opportunity to vaccinate not only people at risk, but the entire population without exception ”.

So far, no EU country has matched the pace of the vaccination campaign with Serbia: the country has received around 40% of its first dose. population, in the second – 29 percent. “Maintaining the current vaccination dynamics, we plan to have 60% vaccinated by the end of June. population, at the end of July – 75 percent. This would mean that the mass immunization of the country would be achieved ”, said the Serbian ambassador in Rome G. Aleksičius to the Delfi portal.