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San Marino offers tourists Sputnik vaccine for €50

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.

Published: 12 May 2021 16:46 CEST

San Marino offers tourists Sputnik vaccine for €50

San Marino has approved the Sputnik vaccine while the EU hasn't. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

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.

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”.

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How is Italy's national public transport strike affecting travel on Friday?

The walkout was set to affect all types of local public transport, from surface services (buses, trams, commuter trains and ferries) to underground metro lines, but wasn’t expected to impact long-distance rail services and taxis.

As it’s often the case with public transport strikes in Italy, the level of disruption faced by passengers was expected to vary from city to city depending on the number of transport workers participating in the protest.

According to Italian media reports, commuters in major cities, including Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice, were all likely to experience at least some level of disruption on Friday, though the strike may also have an impact in smaller cities and towns.

READ ALSO: The transport strikes to expect in Italy in autumn 2024

The protest was called in late June by some of Italy’s largest transport unions to protest against employers’ “unwillingness to open a dialogue on the issues raised by workers” including “a monthly salary increase of 300 euros [and] a reduction of working hours from 39 to 35 per week”.

Guaranteed services

Under national strike laws, public transport companies are required to guarantee the operation of a number of essential services (servizi minimi) during walkouts.

The exact times vary by operator, but usually coincide with peak travel hours.

Milan’s public transport operator ATM said that the strike may affect its trams, buses and metro lines from 8.45am to 3pm, and then from 6pm until end of service.

Services scheduled outside of the above windows were expected to operate as normal.

Rome’s major public transport operator ATAC said in a statement that services scheduled before 8.30am and from 5pm to 8pm would go ahead as normal.

Venice’s public transport operator ACTV published a list of all the water network services that were guaranteed to go ahead on Friday. The list is available here (in Italian).

Florence’s bus operator Autolinee Toscane said it will guarantee services scheduled from 4.15am to 8.14am, and then from 12.30pm to 14.29pm.

Gest, which operates a number of tram lines in Florence, said that services will be guaranteed in the following time slots: from 6.30am to 9.30 am, and from 5pm to 8pm.

In Naples, public transport operator EAV published a list of guaranteed services for each of their lines. See their website for further information.

Tper, which operates buses in the northeastern Emilia Romagna region, said it will guarantee the operation of services scheduled before 8.30am and from 4.30pm to 7.30pm. Services in the provinces of Ravenna, Forli’-Cesena and Rimini were set to go ahead as normal after the areas were hit by severe flooding on Wednesday, unions said.

Palermo’s public transport operator Amat warned that its bus and tram lines may be affected by “potential cancellations and disruption” from 8.30am to 5.30pm, and from 8.30pm to midnight.

For details on guaranteed services in other cities around the country, passengers were advised to check the relevant transport company’s website or social media accounts.

Anyone planning to travel by public transport in Italy on Friday was advised to leave extra time for their journey and check the status of local services with the relevant operator before setting off.

Keep up with the latest updates in The Local’s strike news section.

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