Advertisement

San Marino offers tourists Sputnik vaccine for €50

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
San Marino offers tourists Sputnik vaccine for €50
San Marino has approved the Sputnik vaccine while the EU hasn't. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

San Marino, an independent micro-state in northern Italy, announced on Wednesday it would offer the Russian Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine to tourists for 50 euros.

Advertisement

The fee, equivalent to $61, covers both doses of the vaccine, Health Minister Roberto Ciavatta told a press conference.

The jab will be made available to anyone who books a hotel for at least three nights and returns within three or four weeks for the second injection.

Advertisement

The scheme, which launches from May 17th, will give San Marino "a real possibility to attract a kind of tourism that none of us would have ever before thought possible to attract," Foreign Minister Luca Beccari said.

READ ALSO: Inside San Marino, Europe’s least-visited country

People in the old town of San Marino in 2017. Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP

The Russian vaccine has not been authorised by European Union authorities, but San Marino is not a member of the bloc and has been dispensing it since early March.

While those still waiting to be vaccinated in Italy might be tempted to cross the border and get a shot, unless the European Medicines Agency approves Sputnik the vaccine will not allow you to benefit from the EU-wide "Covid passport". 

Only vaccines cleared by the EMA are included on the travel pass, and while Sputnik is under review it has not been approved for use in Italy or the rest of the EU.

READ ALSO:

The tiny hilltop republic of San Marino, landlocked between Le Marche and Emilia-Romagna, has around 34,000 citizens and since starting the vaccination campaign has administered 36,000 doses and fully vaccinated some 22,000 people.

In a statement on Monday, health authorities said San Marino had reported no new infections in the previous 24 hours. Beccari said Wednesday that the republic was close to being "Covid free".

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also