Not a vaccine tourist.

[dreamshark]

Hmfff.  The Strib had a very snarky FRONT PAGE article today about people crossing state lines to get vaccinated. They used phrases like "vaccine tourism" and "vaccine hunters" and some very Minnesotan back-handed phraseology along the lines of "people say this is unethical" (not that we're making any judgments). 

I just want to state that although I got vaccinated in Wisconsin I am neither a "vaccine hunter" nor a "vaccine tourist." I waited (fairly) patiently until my health provider contacted me, even though I was apparently in the final group of 70+ seniors to be called up. When they did finally get to me I was offered a choice of clinics, a couple of which were in western Wisconsin. I chose Amery, Wisconsin, and that's where I went. All perfectly aboveboard. What the writer of this article does not seem to comprehend is that health system boundaries do not necessarily correspond exactly to state boundaries. Since Health Partners is unambiguously a Minnesota company, I'm not even sure if the vaccine I got was distributed through Minnesota or Wisconsin. 

Comments

[pameladean]

I read that article too, and it mentions in passing that 26,000 people have come TO Minnesota for vaccinations. But they seem fixated on the 15,000 who went elsewhere. Also, good grief, the examples given were people with serious co-morbidities or people taking of care of family members with serious co-morbidities.

Your point about health systems is also something the article should have been aware of, for sure. HealthPartners isn't the only one by a long shot.

P.

[davidwilford]

As someone who has been commuting from Wisconsin to Minnesota to work for 23 years, the concept of the state line being something akin to an international border is kinda silly.

[dreamshark]

And didn't you get a vaccination appointment in Minnesota?

[davidwilford]

I did!