No obstacles for American 'vaccine tourists' snapping up B.C.'s scarce monkeypox doses

A growing number of Americans are travelling to British Columbia to get vaccinated against monkeypox in the face of scarce supplies on both sides of the border.

A growing number of Americans are travelling to British Columbia to get vaccinated against monkeypox in the face of scarce supplies on both sides of the border, but CTV News has learned health officials have no procedures or plans to preserve domestic supply for local residents.

Identification is not required in order to avoid any stigma or barriers to getting protected against the virus, so public health insists they don’t have any firm statistics on how many Americans have rolled up their sleeves in B.C. But they know they’re coming and that the province’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach is contributing to a surge in demand from non-citizens.

CTV News asked to speak with public health officers on so-called “vaccine tourists” who’ve been swapping tips online on how to get vaccinated in Canada and raving about how easy it was, but were refused by Vancouver Coastal Health, while Fraser Health did not provide any information at all. 

In an email, Vancouver Coastal Health confirmed that “in the past week, as news on social media and traditional media highlighted B.C.'s low-barrier vaccine campaign, local monkeypox vaccine clinics began to report an increasing number of U.S. residents booking appointments and travelling to B.C. for the express purpose of receiving vaccine.”

While they are discouraging Americans from coming here to get vaccinated, writing that “people who travel from outside Canada to Vancouver Coastal Health vaccine clinics will not receive the monkeypox vaccine,” a spokesperson admitted there is no process to verify citizenship and that no one will be refused if they say they meet the criteria.

LIMITED ELIGIBILITY DUE TO SCANT SUPPLY