Berlin (AFP)

It's a typical scene in Berlin: a long line of very chic young people patiently waiting to be able to enter one of the most popular techno clubs in the capital.

The only difference on this rainy evening in Alt-Treptow, in the east of Berlin: they did not really come to dance, but especially to be vaccinated.

The city has decided to organize three evenings this week to mainly encourage young people to take the plunge, to the rhythm of electronic music in one of the city's nightclubs, the Club Arena.

The site has experience in the matter: it had already been transformed for months into one of the five mass vaccination centers in the capital, after having had to close like the other establishments due to the pandemic.

Inside, patients who have just received their dose of vaccine observe the usual break, seated on spaced chairs as flashes of lights spin around their heads and a DJ bustles about on his desk. mixing.

- "Berlin experience" -

It was Markus Nisch, director of the Club Arena vaccination center for the Red Cross, who came up with the idea of ​​combining music and vaccination.

“Initially, our expectations were low,” he says.

“But the queue goes that far,” he says, pointing to the dozens of people waiting outside.

About 420 people came that evening, while the club has 1,500 doses of vaccines for the three evenings, according to the Berlin Ministry of Health.

The message quickly spread on social networks.

"I found it on Instagram where people posted it widely," said Olga Kapuskina, 27, who recently moved to the capital.

“It's a Berlin experience to get the shot at a party,” she jokes.

After a sluggish start, the vaccination campaign accelerated in the spring in Germany to reach its highest point of more than a million daily injections, before running out of steam during the summer period.

Some 52 million people have received at least one dose in the country, or 62.5% of the population, according to the latest data from the Robert Koch Institute for Public Health Surveillance.

A patient is taken to a Covid-19 vaccination booth at the club Arena in Berlin on August 9, 2021 John MACDOUGALL POOL / AFP

- Motivate young people -

To encourage the reluctant and as an obligation to be vaccinated is excluded in the country, the government of Angela Merkel announced Tuesday the end of free tests from October 11.

People who do not want to be vaccinated will therefore have to pay for a test proving that they are negative for Covid-19 in order to be able to go to the cinema, to the restaurant or to the gym.

But it's not just the stick.

"We need to reach out to the youngest now, to motivate them and convince them to get vaccinated," Berlin Health Minister Dilek Kalayci said.

The authorities are betting on ingenuity to distribute their doses.

In addition to the initiative at the Club Arena, Berlin has notably organized vaccination centers in the parking lots of Ikea stores, traditionally taken by storm by the Germans on weekends.

In Saxony, where the vaccination rate is the lowest in Germany, a municipality offered free sausages for each vaccinated.

Campaigns have also been launched in football stadiums targeting supporters.

"This is my first dose of vaccine," explains Oriane Dosda, 23 in Berlin.

"I was a little nervous, but I said to myself I will have to do it one day or another."

In addition to music, young people are also sensitive to the practical side: no need for an appointment and no paperwork.

"I had difficulty making an appointment, but here everything is easy," confirms Claudio Keil, 26, a teacher in Berlin.

"I am here primarily for the vaccination, the music is just a nice touch."

© 2021 AFP