Sheep and goats stand together on Monday in Schneverdingen as they form an approximately 330-foot syringe to promote vaccinations against COVID-19 BERLIN — 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 The animals were arranged on Monday into the shape of a roughly 330-foot syringe in a field at Schneverdingen Shepherd Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan spent several days practicing with her animals 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 and goats stand together in Schneverdingen before they form an approximately 330-foot syringe to promote vaccinations against COVID-19 "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 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 "We all hoped that if you have such a high vaccination rate as we have in the club scene and that is unfortunately not the case," Leichsenring said Become an NPR sponsor Mexico Middle School student Autumn Hurlbutt recently invited former German exchange student Nele Brockmann to visit her German class That was proven with the recent visit from former German exchange student Nele Brockmann of Schneverdingen who returned to the Mexico community for a visit with her then-host family and now friends: the Hurlbutt family said the Mexico-to-Germany connection began five years ago when Brockmann was paired with host sister Ashley Hurlbutt through the German American Partnership Program Print this entry Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email