Would you like a shot with that? Israeli bar offers Covid vaccines with a free chaser

A reveller receives a Covid jab at a bar in Tel Aviv

Credit: Tel Aviv Municipality/Tel Aviv Municipality

Young Israelis who dropped into a bar in Tel Aviv for a few shots had a pleasant surprise on Thursday — one of them was a dose of the Covid vaccine.

The bar,  Jenia, was offering jabs to customers and a free beverage, in an attempt to encourage more young people to be inoculated.

Though Israel has already vaccinated the vast majority of over-60s and more than 40 per cent of the general population, officials are struggling to get young people to report for their jabs.

The free drinks on offer at the bar were non-alcoholic, but this did not deter young Israelis from dropping in.

"I thought it is a really good opportunity to come and get the vaccine, because I didn’t have either the time or the ability to go to other places," said May Perez, among dozens of people who turned up for their first jab.

Maya Nouri, a Tel Aviv city council member and holder of the young residents portfolio said: "If the young won’t come to be vaccinated, the vaccines will come to them. I call on all the young adults – even if you do not have the energy, time or desire to be vaccinated – come, take responsibility and vaccinate yourselves.

"This is the only way to return to normal and the exciting Tel Aviv life that we all love so much."

It came as a new study in Israel yielded yet more encouraging results on the effectiveness of vaccines. 

Data analysis in a study by the Israeli Health Ministry and Pfizer Inc found the Pfizer vaccine developed with Germany’s BioNTech reduces infection, including in asymptomatic cases, by 89.4% and in symptomatic cases by 93.7%.

Findings of the pre-published study, not yet peer-reviewed, but based on a national database that is one of the world’s most advanced, were first reported by the Israeli news site Ynet late on Thursday and were obtained by Reuters on Friday.