The crushing demand for the COVID-19 vaccine is leading to a new type of tourism, with many people across the tri-state traveling to other states in the hope of securing a shot.

Flight attendant William Foxx left Westchester earlier this month for Chicago where's he's considered an essential worker - and there is no residency requirement.

DATA: Searchable table of state requirements in the U.S. (list also available at bottom of article)

He said it was frustrating that he couldn't get an appointment in New York, so he got an appointment through Walgreens and secured an appointment at a Chicago location. He flew there to get his shot - no questions asked.

SEARCH FOR A CURE: COVID-19 Data and Resources

He's not the only one. Dick Parsons, the former CEO of Time Warner, recently announced on national television that he also left New York to get his shot in Florida. 

So where are people having the most luck getting the vaccine? New York state isn't keeping tabs on that data, so the Team 12 Investigates team reached out to every health department in all 50 states.

The data News 12 compiled is the first-of-its-kind database that tracks the travel of vaccine-seekers nationwide. 

We found that 30 states have residency requirements like New York - meaning that people have to live there, own a second home or in some cases, work in the state to become eligible. Twenty states have no requirements, including places like North Carolina, Nevada and Colorado. Our team found that the states with the biggest numbers of vaccine tourism so far have been Pennsylvania and Florida.

Patients' home addresses are not being shared, but our database shows that many Americans have crossed states lines to get vaccinated since January, proving "vaccine tourism" is booming.  

Is that a good thing or a bad thing having New Yorkers leaving to go out of state to get their vaccines?

"I'm not sure what's available to them elsewhere. We want to make sure we're being equitable in our distribution of vaccines in our own state so if New Yorkers figure out another plan, we're not involved in that," says Lt. Gov. of New York Kathy Hochul.

Whether it's legal or not, some doctors caution that a trip across state lines right now is not without risk.

They say traveling itself is a risk factor for acquiring COVID-19 and that people may bring back the virus from the places they visited.