Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced the launch of another campaign offering freebies in exchange for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The “Shots on Goal” campaign launched Thursday. If individuals get their vaccination from any of the five pop-up clinics listed, they will receive a coupon booklet with 11 different incentives valued at over $100 from 20 different businesses.
Metro government will provide a partial reimbursement to the businesses involved. If a vaccinated individual takes advantage of every coupon in their booklet, the total cost to Metro would be $36. The mayor’s office clarified that these funds would come from their CARES Act reserves. The campaign didn’t mention a limit on the number of coupon booklets handed out.
According to the campaign press release, about 48 percent of residents have received at least one vaccine shot.
The Tennessee Star inquired with the mayor’s office where Nashville is at in terms of its goal vaccination rate. They didn’t respond by press time.
The pop-up vaccination locations will occur on various dates throughout June. The deals in the coupon booklet are: one free Bavarian pretzel from Von Elrod’s Beer Hall and Kitchen; $5 credit at Barista Parlor; one free slice of cake at the Cafe at Thistle Farms; a discounted ticket to a Nashville Soccer Club match; $5 credit at Tito’s Playland at Plaza Mariachi; one free Nashville Style Sandwich at Edley’s Bar-B-Que; one free workout class at 80/20 Fitness, Booth Camp, or QNTM Fit Life; $10 credit at either 8th and Roast or Gram’s Coffee; one free beer at Tennessee Brew Works, The Listening Room Cafe, Rudy’s Jazz Room, Third Coast Comedy Club, Fleet Street Pub, Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, or Sinema.
This is the second of the mayor’s campaigns incentivizing vaccinations with freebies. As The Star reported, Cooper launched the “Shot for a Beer, Shot for a Cup” a little over a month ago. Like this latest campaign, the mayor’s Hospitality Advisory Committee, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, and HospitalityTN are partnering on this campaign. Last month’s campaign stopped at the end of May.
The mayor’s campaign announcement came the same day that the CDC announced that it will hold an emergency meeting next week to address heart inflammation caused by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The Star is inquiring with the Metro Health Department which vaccines will be used in the mayor’s campaign. The first pop-up vaccine clinic is scheduled for Saturday.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
I find it baffling that many U.S. residents do not want to be vaccinated while people in the Third World areas of Africa, South America, and similar regions fight DESPERATELY for equal access to the vaccine. That the wealthy nations of our planet still insist on hoarding the vaccines just so the pharmaceutals can get even filthy richer than they currently are is obscene. If large numbers of U.S. residents don’t want the vaccine, then for crying out loud, give it away free to the poorer parts of the planet so as to prevent the spread of a new variant of Covid. If refusal by the rich nations to give the poor nations equal and free access to the current vaccine, the new variant disease could eventually spread here to the U.S. and other developed nations, thus requiring all of us to get vaccinated all over again. All because of selfish and greedy wealthy nations!
Cake , pizza , beer , and bar-b-q. Awesome choices for the diabetics and obese people in the greatest risk group to die from COVID complications. And by the way , what about those 48 % of people who already had their jabs?? When do they get a coupon book??
How about free gym memberships and public pools attached to public libraries? This way, you would not need any vaccines. You would have a strong, healthy, educated population. The Romans gave us running water and public baths. The Greeks gave us the Olympics. The Americans gave us food stamps, the cheeseburger, the 32 ounce soda, and experimental vaccines. Unreal. Sad to say the least. And now a Word from our sponsors. We have the best democracy money can buy.