The medieval Bran Castle of Transylvania (Romania), known as the inspiration for the home of vampires in the novel Dracula by Irish writer Bram Stoker and which became popular for saying that it was the former residence of Vlad Țepeș, the Impaler , is offering vaccines against COVID-19 to its visitors, becoming a most striking vaccination center.
The description of the castle within Bram Stoker’s iconic novel bears an exceptional resemblance to Bran’s as, among other things, both medieval fortresses are perched on cliffs in Transylvania. However, Stoker is not known to have traveled there during his lifetime, although he could have read descriptions or seen illustrations of the castle, which would explain its similarity.
Like most tourist attractions in the world, the 14th century castle located in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania has seen a drop in the number of tourists this year, thus it has been converted into a COVID-19 vaccination center with An interesting incentive: the doctors and nurses who vaccinate patients wear stickers of bloody fangs on their gowns as if it were Halloween and offer free injections of the Pfizer vaccine on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this May without an appointment . As if this were not enough, those vaccinated get a free direct pass to the castle’s exhibition on the multiple medieval torture tools that it houses in its damp rooms (up to 52 torture utensils), as a reminder that they will receive a prick with a Needle is not so bad when compared to having your flesh and bones ripped apart … they comment in a funny way.
Unsurprisingly, the staff at the popular castle hope that this offer will attract more people to the so-called “Dracula’s Castle”, where the number of tourists has plummeted since the start of the pandemic. The curious idea is to make vaccination against COVID-19 a fun day for the whole family.
“The idea was to show how people were attacked 500-600 years ago in Europe,” said the castle’s marketing director, Alexandru Priscu, in relation to the display of the 52 torture instruments from the Middle Ages.
A novel way to encourage vaccination
The Romanian government is determined to vaccinate 10 million of its inhabitants by September , but a survey published in April by the Bratislava-based think tank Globsec showed that Romanians are reluctant to be vaccinated from among the eastern members of the Romanian government. the European Union. Despite campaigns for citizens to receive injections against the coronavirus, the percentage of people willing to get vaccinated has barely increased by one percentage point between October 2020 and March 2021, according to this report. Hopefully this attractive service will change your mind.
Thus, throughout the month of May, Bran Castle will house a vaccination center and anyone can come without an appointment. You don’t even have to be a Romanian citizen.
