Covid-19 Vaccines in U.S. Beckon Foreigners Seeking Shots and Shops - The Wall Street Journal

McALLEN, Texas—Even before New York City announced plans to offer visitors free vaccines, tourism from Texas to Florida has received a boost as tens of thousands from Mexico and other countries fly to the U.S.

“Enjoy Dallas, Includes Covid Vaccine,” said a Mexico travel agency ad.

Most of the travel appears to be between Mexico and Texas.

Cindy Mijares, a 31-year-old jewelry designer from Monterrey, Mexico, said she booked a Covid-19 vaccination appointment at a Texas pharmacy, as have many of her friends.

People hesitate to talk about crossing the border for a vaccine, concerned that they are doing something wrong, she said, adding that she just wants life to go back to normal.

Mexico is still mostly focusing on people over the age of 60, while the U.S.

Patricia Ridruejo, 38, who was about to board a recent flight from Mexico City to Dallas with her sister, said they didn’t want to wait for the vaccine any longer to spend time safely with their 72-year-old mother.

Unlike in Mexico, where there are too few vaccines to go around, some U.S.

On Thursday, New York City began promoting itself as a travel spot for vaccine seekers.

Mike Dunleavy said travelers could get free vaccines at the state’s major airports starting June 1, in an effort to boost tourism.

While Texas state officials have said foreigners account for a tiny fraction of shots administered, travelers often list a local address on forms.

tourist packages in March and April to 170,000 people, most of them seeking the vaccine, said Eduardo Paniagua, the head of an industry association.

The Mexican editor Eduardo Huerta, 56, wrote in his newspaper, El Economista, about traveling to Texas to get a vaccine.

Now, he said, many people he knows are heading north for vaccines.

One group particularly interested in vaccine travel has been Mexico’s private doctors, who weren’t included in vaccination of health personnel working in public hospitals.

In Browning, Mont., the Blackfeet Nation recently offered hundreds of surplus vaccines to members of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Canada and residents of the town of Cardston, Alberta, at a drive-through vaccination site near the border last month.

In Thailand, a travel agent said her company had 200 people book vaccine tours to the U.S.

Travelers pay the equivalent of about $2,400, excluding airfare, to spend 10 days in California in a group of eight to 10 people, the agent said.

Asked during a news conference about Thai vaccine travel to the U.S., Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the country’s Department of Disease Control, denied it was occurring