It is a typical Berlin scene: a long line of sharply dressed people waiting round the corner to get into a club.
The thud of music from inside the venue, strict entry controls and the chance of waking up with a headache the morning after are all familiar, too.
Only, on a rainy evening in the east Berlin neighborhood of Alt-Treptow, the draw is not just dance music, but COVID-19 vaccines as well.
Photo: AFP
The German capital renowned for its clubbing scene is throwing three vaccination parties this week, giving patrons jabs to the sound of electronic music.
The site is Arena club — which had been transformed into one of Berlin’s five main vaccination centers over the past year, after it, like other similar venues, was forced to shut due to virus restrictions.
After delivering more than 1 million jabs a day at its peak, Germany is now seeing the takeup for inoculation against COVID-19 slow dramatically, data from the Robert Koch Institute for disease control and prevention showed.
In a bid to incentivize more people to take the jab, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday agreed with regional leaders to end free COVID-19 tests from Oct. 11.
In the Arena club, the scene is like a high-school disco with limited dancing. People who have just had their vaccines sit spaced out on chairs under strobing lights, while one of the DJs — some of them well-known figures of Berlin’s underground and some who have volunteered in the vaccination center itself — works away on a set of turntables.
Some are in full party gear, others in their regular clothes.
The idea to combine dance music and vaccines was hatched by Markus Nisch, the Arena vaccination center manager for the German Red Cross.
“We had relatively low expectations at the start, but the queue goes all the way down there,” Nisch said, pointing to dozens of people waiting in line.
In all, about 420 people were vaccinated at the center on Monday, the Berlin Ministry for Health said.
The word was spread on social media.
“I found it on Instagram, people were posting it widely,” said Olga Kapuskina, 27, who recently moved to the city. “It’s a Berlin experience to get vaccinated at a party.”
The effort at the vaccine party appears to be attracting first-timers.
“This is my first dose of the vaccine,” said Oriane Dosda, 23, who works in customer service. “I was a bit nervous, but I said to myself eventually I’ll just have to get it done.”
The convenience is as much of a draw as the line-up.
Patrons can turn up at the center without an appointment or the need for any documentation.
“I had difficulty getting an appointment, but here it’s easily organized,” said Claudio Keil, 26, a language teacher in Berlin.
“I’m mostly here for the vaccination, the music is just a nice extra,” Keil said.
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