Vaccinations at the iconic castle which inspired the vampire's lair in the novel Dracula is part of a government mission to encourage Romanians to get vaccinated.
The iconic castle that inspired the vampire lair in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is making history once again as Romania offers tourists and locals the opportunity to receive their COVID-19 vaccine at the Transylvanian fortress. Medics are reportedly wearing fang stickers on their blue scrubs to help excite tourists and Romanians to receive the coronavirus vaccine, BBC reported.
Romanians have reportedly been resistant to get the vaccine, with one of the highest "hesitancy" levels in Europe, according to a Globsec study. There is hope that the tourist hot spot could bring in more people to the castle and attract enough interest in the vaccine.
"The idea...was to show how people got jabbed 500-600 years ago in Europe," the castle's marketing director, Alexandru Priscu, told Reuters.
The castle rests on top of the Carpathian mountains, just north of Bucharest. The structure has been associated with the character Count Dracula because it is believed to have been the home of Prince Vlad, also known as "the Impaler." who inspired Dracula, the outlet reported.
The country has recorded just over a million infections overall and has had 29,000 deaths.
Ultimately, the Romania government hopes to vaccinate 10 million people by September.
