Israel has opened a Covid vaccination center in a bar and is offering a free drink to anyone who gets an injection to encourage young people to get vaccinated.
The Jenia gastropub in Tel Aviv, which was closed for a long time during the pandemic, opened its doors Thursday to offer gamblers a different kind of shot.
More than 43 percent of Israel’s 9 million residents have already received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, health ministers say, especially among older people.
But there is the fear that younger people, who are much less at risk from Covid, will be less eager to get the jabs – leading to new ideas to entice them.
A Tel Aviv bar is now offering punters a very different kind of shot after turning it into a temporary vaccination center
Young people who arrive at the bar to get vaccinated will receive free drink coupons that can be redeemed at the bar
“I thought it was a very good opportunity to get the vaccine because I didn’t have the time or the opportunity to go to other places,” said May Perez, among dozens of people who showed up for their first injections. .
Israel is praised for running a global vaccination program, vaccinating a greater proportion of its population than any other country.
But the number of people using the vaccine has fallen dramatically in recent weeks, as its introduction extends beyond the elderly and vulnerable groups and into lower-risk groups.
Meanwhile, doctors have reported that more and more younger people are ending up in the hospital – the vast majority of whom have not been vaccinated.
While that’s encouraging because it means the vaccine is working, health officials say it’s now about convincing more people to get it.
Professor Eyal Leshem, an infectious disease expert at Israel’s largest hospital, Sheba, told Sky News: ‘You really have to convince them.
‘You have to prepare your communication, go to work on social media, move and work with community leaders, opinion leaders, even celebrities, just make sure people understand it’s safe and it’s really important that everyone gets vaccinated so that we can get back can come to normal life. ‘
Meanwhile, promising studies from Professor Leshem’s hospital suggested that a first dose of Pfizer vaccine between two and four weeks after inoculation is 85 percent effective against coronavirus infection.
Israel has implemented the fastest vaccination program in the world, but it is starting to slow down as the shot is offered to younger people, who are less at risk from Covid
Doctors in Israel say they are seeing more and more young people in hospital as vaccine protects older people from serious illness
Studies conducted in Israel suggest that Pfizer’s jab, which the country uses for its rollout (pictured), could be up to 94 percent effective in preventing the disease
The survey was conducted among health workers in the hospital.
The Lancet report focused on more than 9,000 medical personnel at Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv. About 7,000 of them received the first dose, the rest were not vaccinated.
Of the group, 170 were diagnosed with Covid-19 after tests performed only on those who showed symptoms or who had been in contact with coronavirus carriers.
Fifty-two percent of them turned out not to have been vaccinated.
By comparing the two groups, the Sheba study calculated that the vaccine was 47 percent effective between one and 14 days after inoculation, increasing to 85 percent after 15 to 28 days.
“What we are seeing is really high efficacy as early as two weeks, between two weeks to four weeks after vaccination, already a high efficacy of 85 percent reduction in symptomatic infection,” Gili Regev-Yochay, study co-author, said. a small group of journalists.
He said that despite the vaccine being “ astonishingly effective, ” scientists are still investigating whether fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus to others.
That’s the big, big question. We are working on it. This is not on this paper and I hope we will have good news soon, ”said Regev-Yochay.
Israel has delivered an injection of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to 4.23 million residents, or 47 percent of its nine million residents, of whom 2.85 million have received the recommended full course of two shots, the latest figures show. the Ministry of Health.