The International Vaccination Centers (CVI) of Andalusia have served in the first half of the year a total of 12,995 travelers, a figure that is approaching the pre-pandemic figures of 2019, when 15,961 people were counted from January to June, and a growth of 44% of users of these centers compared to 2022, when 3,252 applicants for information prior to their travel to other countries for leisure purposes were added from January to June.
In Andalusia, the provinces of Almeria, Cadiz, Huelva, Malaga, Seville and the Cadiz municipality of Algeciras have CVs dependent on the General Administration of the State, to which is added one managed by the autonomous community in the Virgen de las Nieves Hospital. All of them provide personalized information and vaccination recommendations, for which they have a pre-appointment system that avoids waiting and makes better health care possible.
The staff attached to the CVI, in addition to carrying out health advice and prescription of vaccines in international trips, is responsible for Sanitary Hygiene Control in the international traffic of travelers and international means of transport.
As happened in the summer of 2022, the profile of the traveler who visits these centers is the one who travels for reasons of tourism, although, as happened last year, there is a continuous increase in a type of solidarity tourism, especially among young people from 18 to 25 years old who travel to remote places of special risk. This is the case of destinations in the sub-Saharan region such as Senegal, Mali or Uganda.
This type of traveler requires a very careful risk assessment, since they are medium or long-term stays –more than four weeks– to places of poor services and sanitary conditions, which require special recommendations and administration of vaccines against infrequent diseases such as Cholera, Polio, Meningitis or Rabies.
As for the preferred destinations, among the tourists who are advised in the International Vaccination Centers of Andalusia are countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the typical associated with backpacker tourism of Asia, such as Thailand, Vietnam or India.