Rich people from Latin America have been traveling to the United States to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Some are flying thousands of kilometers. Some are taking buses and cars. Some go straight from the airport to vaccination centers. They include politicians, business leaders and a professional soccer team.
Virginia Gónzalez and her husband flew from Monterrey, Mexico, to Houston, Texas. They took a bus to a vaccination center. Then, they made the 1,100 kilometer trip again for a second injection.
“It’s a matter of survival,” Gónzalez said. “In Mexico, officials didn’t buy enough vaccines.”
Mexico has a population of more than 130 million people. It has received more vaccine shots than many other Latin American countries—about 18 million injections. Most have gone to health care workers, people older than 60 and some teachers. Many Latin American countries are in the same situation.
To avoid the long wait, people who can pay for the trip are coming to the United States. More than half of American citizens have had at least one injection of a coronavirus vaccine.
Those who make the trip must first get a visa. They must also pay for coronavirus tests, air travel, hotel rooms and rental cars, among other things.
Earlier this month, 19 players on Monterrey’s professional soccer team called Rayados traveled to Dallas to get the vaccine. Hernando De Soto, a presidential candidate in Peru, was criticized after he admitted to traveling to the U.S. for a…
