Germany: strange ritual held with sheep in honor of the vaccine
It looks like the world behind the scenes is hinting that all
vaccinated people are sheep. Tasty bits of bread did the trick
for about 700 sheep and goats to join Germany's drive to
encourage more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19
(
https://n.pr/3JSev3X). The animals were arranged on Monday
into the shape of a roughly 330-foot syringe in a field at
Schneverdingen, south of Hamburg. Shepherd Wiebke
Schmidt-Kochan spent several days practicing with her animals,
news agency dpa reported. But she said in the end, it wasn't
difficult to work things out - she laid out pieces of bread in the
shape of the syringe, which the sheep and goats gobbled up
when they were let out into the field. Organizer Hanspeter Etzold
said the action was aimed at people who are still hesitating to
get vaccinated.
"Sheep are such likeable animals - maybe they can get the message
over better," he said. The German government has made an
accelerated vaccination campaign its top priority in attempting to
beat back the latest wave of COVID-19 infections.
The percentage of the population that has received at least two
shots stood on Monday at 71.2%. Those who have received a
booster shot has increased much faster in recent weeks and now
stands at 38.9% of the population.
Health Ministry spokesman Andreas Deffner said on Monday that
the public debate over vaccinations in recent weeks appeared to
have prompted some holdouts to change their mind.
In a more conventional contribution to the drive, Berlin nightclubs
on Monday pitched in by offering vaccinations.
Lutz Leichsenring, spokesman for the Clubcommission, the association
of Berlin nightclubs, said that half of the vaccination appointments
have already been taken up. Sage Beach and several other clubs are
offering about 4,500 shots in total this week.
Authorities in Germany have recently closed or put restrictions on
clubs in order to slow the omicron variant's spread. Berlin
authorities banned dancing, prompting many clubs to shut their
doors.
"We all hoped that if you have such a high vaccination rate as we
have in the club scene, that you can then also hold safe events, and
that is unfortunately not the case," Leichsenring said.
