‘Dracula’s castle’ offers visitors Covid vaccine and free visit to torture exhibition

Bran Castle towers above Bran commune, in Brasov county
Visitors to Romania’s Bran Castle, popularly known as the inspiration for the lair of Dracula, are being offered a Covid-19 jab
REUTERS
Leah Sinclair10 May 2021

Visitors to Romania’s Bran Castle, popularly known as the inspiration for the lair of Dracula, are being offered a Covid-19 jab and a free visit to the torture exhibition as part of a coronavirus vaccination drive.

Medical workers with bloody fang stickers on their scrubs are offering free shots of the Pfizer vaccine every Friday, Saturday and Sunday this month.

Those who take the jab are given a certificate applauding their "boldness and responsibility" while promising they will be welcome at the castle "for the coming 100 years" - as well as offering a free tour of the "torture chamber" including 52 medieval torture tools.

No appointment is required.

Alexandru Priscu, the castle’s marketing director, said the idea was to show “how people got jabbed 500-600 years ago in Europe”.

Fernando Orozco, a renewable energy market developer, was one of those who visited the castle on Saturday.

The 37-year-old, who is usually based in Berlin but has been working remotely out of Romania, told Reuters: “I was already planning to come to the castle and I just thought it was the two-for-one special.”

Liviu Necula, a 39-year-old engineer told AFP: "I came to visit the castle with my family and when I saw the poster I gathered up my courage and agreed to get the injection.”

Bran Castle is often associated with the 15th-century Romanian prince Vlad the Impaler.

Dracula author Bram Stoker is believed to have been inspired by Vlad when writing his 1897 novel that helped found the popular vampire genre.

The fortress is a popular tourist destination, with tour companies often booking it for Halloween parties, but visitor numbers have declined due to the pandemic.

Almost 3.6 million Romanians have received at least one vaccine dose, with authorities aiming for five million by June.

Romania’s government wants to vaccinate 10 million people by September but are currently battling vaccine hesitancy within the country.

According to a survey released in April by Bratislava-based think tank Globsec, Romanians have the largest rate of vaccine hesitancy in eastern Europe.

Romania has recorded just over one million cases of Covid-19 and almost 29,000 deaths from the virus.

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