The concept of medical tourism is not new — though it typically involves traveling internationally in order to get a treatment or procedure that is either unavailable or significantly more expensive in a person’s home country. (Think dental work, fertility treatments, or abortions.) But, as with nearly every other aspect of the pandemic, Covid vaccine tourism is somewhat uncharted territory. Like traditional medical tourism, it raises ethical and legal questions regarding equitable access to health care and services and patient safety.
At the same time, though, Covid vaccine tourism is different because it doesn’t involve cosmetic surgery procedures or experimental cancer surgeries that appeal to a limited number of people — in this case, the commodity is something sought after by most adults around the world. Complicating things further is that from a general public health standpoint, we know that the more shots-in-arms, the better — but where does fairness come into play? Here’s what to know about this facet of the vaccine rollout.