Doctors in Romania are offering citizens a bit of a thrill along with their dose of a COVID-19 vaccine after setting up a vaccination center next to Dracula’s castle as part of an effort to push “vaccination marathons.”
“We wanted to show people a different way to get the [vaccine] needle,” Alexandru Priscu, the marketing manager at Bran Castle, told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The European Union’s vaccination campaign was launched over the weekend in hopes that more than five million people would be vaccinated by June 1. Currently, citizens are offered an appointment-free opportunity to visit Bran Castle’s Exhibition of Medieval Instruments of Torture for free while getting the Pfizer jab.
“The idea behind giving access to the exhibit of torture instruments was a way of showing those who come to get vaccinated how jabs used to be done in 500-600 years ago in Europe,” Priscu explained.
Many foreigners have requested the opportunity to get vaccinated in Dracula’s domain, but the event is only open to Romanian citizens. The Romanian government says it wants to vaccinate 10 million people by September in order to boost tourism.
History of ‘Dracula’s Castle’
According to the Bran Castle’s website, even though it is often referred to as “Dracula’s castle,” Vlad the Impaler, who is often referred to as the inspiration behind Dracula, actually lived in a castle located in the Principality of Wallachia, which is now in ruins.
Bran Castle is the only castle in Transylvania to fit Bram Stoker’s description, and as such has become known throughout the world as “Dracula’s castle.” Not to take away from the whimsical, historians believe Vlad the Impaler did frequent Bran during his reign of Wallachia Voivode, when his troops passed through in early 1459.
Those who get the spooky jab receive a “vaccination diploma,” complete with a fanged medical worker brandishing a syringe, in a bit tongue-in-cheek humor.