Vaccine tourism

Austria is offering immunization against swine flu for all its citizens. Even the country's president, Heinz Fischer, was shown on television queuing for his jab.

Queues have become a common feature at many of the special immunization clinics set up around the country. At one such clinic in the city of Salzburg – not far from the border with Germany – the queue is longer than most.

"We come from Germany. Although we live in Germany, in our opinion, Austria is better for getting immunized," a man standing in line said, adding: "Because my wife is pregnant and we have a small child at home as well and we actually don't want to go through the drama of the young child getting the flu."

Owing to mounting demand for the vaccine, the waiting lists are growing ever longer in Germany. In some parts of the country, those eager to get immunized face delays of up to several weeks.

Vaccine tourism

This shortage of flu jabs in Germany is driving what the Austrians are calling vaccination tourism. The trend is most evident in the western provinces of Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg.

One health official confirmed hundreds of calls from Germans inquiring about immunization. "There have been many inquiries, especially in the region bordering (the German state of) Bavaria," a spokeswoman for the health ministry in the Austrian province of Tyrol said.

At one point, immunization clinics received up to 30 phone calls per day from Germany relating to the vaccine. However, the number of inquiries has reportedly abated somewhat in recent days as most callers are put off when they hear the conditions imposed by Austrian authorities. Non-Austrian citizens can only be immunized when they have a local residential address, work in the country or have Austrian health insurance.

However, hard-pressed health workers confronted with crowds waiting to be immunized have little time for background checks and many Germans still manage to get their jabs for free.

"We would definitely have immunized three or four hundred people in the first two hours. The demand here was greater than elsewhere," said Dr. Manfred Mosler from Salzburg, describing the challenges he faced when the swine flu immunization program first opened.

"Now the situation is becoming more normal – one could describe it as back to the first days of a normal flu immunization," he added.

Austria faces shortages too

The head of one clinic in Tyrol told local media he would gladly immunize everyone who came, but that sadly, they did not have enough shots.

The reason for that is that although Austria is offering immunization to all who ask for it, the country does not have enough for all of its more than eight million citizens.

Professor Michael Kunze, a public health expert, says there is no telling just how many injections will be needed.

"Austria is one of the best prepared countries in the world but there will, of course, be many more severe cases among the young people, pregnant women and children. And of course, all the people with underlying medical conditions will suffer," Prof. Kunze said. "It will cost a lot of money," he added, saying that would impact the health system in particular.

Pointing out that Salzburg province has a population of around half a million, health officials say they have tried to estimate just how many flu shots will be needed. But some observers say what the officials have not taken into account is the over 12 million people living just across the border in the German state of Bavaria. Even if only a tiny fraction of that number take a trip to Austria, supplies will soon run dry.

Author: Kerry Skyring /rb/AFP

Editor: Susan Houlton