Previously I had written about how there are just a few countries in the world that you can freely travel that don't have extensive and obtrusive vaccination requirements in order to visit them but it seem, at least for now, that one of those 4 destinations is doing an "about face" on their stance.
Starting October 18th, the Dominican Republic is going to require proof of double vaccination to enter almost all public places including bars, restaurants, and tourist areas such as national parks and historical areas.
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It isn't "game over" just yet for those out there that don't wish to be vaccinated though because the government, which is notoriously rather useless in the "D.R." has already stated that an alternative is to have a negative PCR test that is no older than 7 days and this will suffice as well.
The other side of the situation is that from my somewhat extensive experience in the Dominican Republic, they have rather "spotty" enforcement of any laws and I would imagine that this one will not be an exception after a couple of weeks or so.
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The center data is "doses per 1000 people and you have to keep in mind that this means that many have already gotten 1 dose, some have had 2, and of course some have had none which is why you can have more than 1000 doses per 1000 people... I hope that makes sense
This could prove initially quite problematic even if the local population wants to get vaccinated because as of today, 14-Oct-2021, less than 50% of the population has received the full vaccine and that means they would need to administer 12 million more vaccines in 4 days? Seems very unlikely to me at this point especially when you consider the length of time that needs to pass between doses.
Also, resorts are apparently exempt from this policy but since I specialize in budget travel, this factor is rather meaningless to me and a vast majority of the rest of the backpacking world. We tend to stay in cheap "near the beach" bungalows and from what I have heard, these businesses will not receive said exemption.
So it seems as though we can scratch The Dominican Republic off the list of countries that are easy to travel to if you are not vaccinated or do not wish to become vaccinated. All hope is not lost though because this could very well just be a public relations move to appease daddy USA and Canada, as they constitute a very large percentage of the overall tourist mix on the island-nation.
We'll have to wait a month to see how much this is actually enforced and I will let you know what happens as I know a handful of people that live there year-round. My guess is that it is strictly enforced for a couple weeks, then sporadically enforced where businesses that pay off the cops get the "heads up" before the raid happens, then it won't be enforced at all.