Today’s special is “Modern shots” it says on the sign at the entrance to the Thin Man restaurant in Buffalo. Nurses from the county’s health ministry have equipped themselves on the second floor with 140 vaccine doses.
This is part of Erie county’s latest invention to reach out with the vaccine to all the residents of the county. Anyone who gets vaccinated can go straight to the bar, show their vaccine card and get a free beer. They call it shot and a chaserclinics.
– I have wanted to take the vaccine for a while, but to get free beer and a vaccine, it is a win-win situation, says Conor Terry, who ordered an IPA called Sci-Fi Hamster Wheel.
The trial started a few weeks ago, and has since been expanded to several restaurants in upstate New York. This Saturday, two restaurants are handing out vaccines. Thin Man in Buffalo, the county’s largest city, and Steelbound in Springville, an hour away.
Must go out to the young
Mark Poloncarz, county manager in Erie, has taken the trip to Thin Man to see how the project is going.
He tells TV2 that the vaccination in the area, as in the rest of the USA, has been successful. More than half of the inhabitants have received their first dose. But even though it has been over a month since everyone over 16 was able to stand in the vaccine queue, far fewer young people than the elderly are vaccinated. Poloncarz says that is why they decided to send the vaccines to more untraditional places.
– We had to find a way to reach young people millennials on. Buffalo has many breweries, so we asked them if they were interested in collaborating shot and chaserclinics. It has been a success so far. We have had a couple of hundred visits to the various clinics we have had, and we hope to get around 100 today, Poloncarz says to TV2.
The Buffalo area is not the only place in the United States where the government uses creative methods to combat declining vaccine willingness. In the state of Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine has announced one vaccine lottery where the winners get a million dollars each.
Poloncarz says he would like to start vaccinating people in parks, libraries and other places where there are many random passers-by who can spare a few minutes for a dose.
Jacob Piersa, head of the temporary vaccination clinic on the second floor of the restaurant, says it is no problem to move the vaccination out of the hospitals. For the occasion, the Moderna vaccines have been stored in specially designed coolers.
– We can distribute vaccines almost everywhere. We only have a few requirements for the place. We can solve most of the challenges, such as power and internet access, says Piersa to TV2.
– In Erie county, residents can now walk straight from the vaccine clinic to the bar and grab a free beer. Photo: Mathias Ask
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Drinking culture
The experiment has also received attention far beyond the borders of Buffalo and Erie county.
– Finally, they found a way to get people in Buffalo to drink beer, joked TV comedian Stephen Colbert about the city that is known for its drinking culture.
Terry, who has just moved from Buffalo to Virginia for a new job, says he thinks it’s the main reason shot and a chaser has become a new success.
– When I asked the boss what I could expect in Buffalo, she said that people here like to eat and drink. This is something for Buffalo. It probably hits the culture here extra well, he says.
What worries you the most, hangovers or side effects?
– The side effects are certainly not that bad. A little pain in the arm is not so dangerous. Hopefully there will be no hangover, I have things to do today and tomorrow. I’m probably more worried about alcohol than the vaccine, says Terry.
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