Israel has opened a Covid vaccination center in a bar and is offering a free drink to anyone who receives an injection, to encourage young people to get vaccinated.
Tel Aviv’s gastropub Jenia, which was closed for a long time during the pandemic, opened its doors to serve punters a different kind of dose on Thursday.
More than 43 percent of Israel’s 9 million population has already received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, health ministers say, especially among older people.
But there are fears that young people, who are at much less risk with Covid, will be less eager to receive the blows – leading to new ideas to tempt them.
A bar in Tel Aviv is offering bettors a very different type of injection after being turned into a temporary vaccination center
Young people arriving to get vaccinated at the bar receive free drink tokens that can be redeemed at the bar
“I thought it was a great opportunity to come and get the vaccine, because I didn’t have the time or the ability to go elsewhere,” said May Perez, among dozens of people who came for the first vaccines.
Israel was acclaimed for running a successful vaccination program worldwide, which saw it vaccinate a larger portion of its population than any other country.
But the rate of people who get the vaccine has dropped dramatically in recent weeks, as implantation extends beyond the elderly and vulnerable and into low-risk groups.
Meanwhile, doctors have reported an increase in the number of young people who end up in hospital – the vast majority of whom have not been vaccinated.
While this is encouraging, because it means the vaccine works, health officials say the challenge now is to convince more people to take it.
Professor Eyal Leshem, an infectious disease specialist at Israel’s largest hospital, Sheba, told Sky News: ‘You really need to convince them.
‘You need to prepare your communication, work on social media, move and work with community leaders, opinion leaders and even celebrities, just ensuring that people understand that it is safe and that it is very important that everyone is vaccinated so that we can get back to normal life. ‘
Meanwhile, promising studies at Professor Leshem’s hospital suggested that the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine is 85 percent effective against coronavirus infection between two and four weeks after inoculation.
Israel has been running the world’s fastest vaccination program, but has started to slow down as the jab is offered to younger people, who are less at risk from Covid
Doctors in Israel say they are seeing an increasing number of young people being hospitalized, as the vaccine protects the elderly from serious illnesses
Studies in Israel suggest that the Pfizer jab, which the country is using for its launch (photo), may be up to 94 percent effective in preventing the disease
The survey was conducted with health professionals from the hospital.
The Lancet report focused on more than 9,000 medical professionals at Sheba hospital, near Tel Aviv. About 7,000 of them received the first dose and the rest were not inoculated.
Of the group, 170 were diagnosed with Covid-19 after tests performed only on people with symptoms or who were in contact with coronavirus carriers.
Fifty-two percent of them have not been vaccinated.
Comparing the two groups, Sheba’s 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 see is really high efficacy right after two weeks, between two weeks to four weeks after the vaccine, already an 85 percent high effectiveness in reducing symptomatic infection,” said Gili Regev-Yochay, co-author of the study, to a small group of journalists.
He said that although the vaccine is ‘surprisingly effective’, scientists are still studying whether fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus to others.
‘That is the big, big question. We are working on it. That is not in this role and I hope we have good news soon, ‘said Regev-Yochay.
Israel administered an injection of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to 4.23 million residents, or 47 percent of its population of nine million, 2.85 million of whom received the full recommended course of two jabs, show the latest data from the Ministry of Health. health.