Free beer with COVID shot program in western New York boosts vaccination turnout

A program Saturday in New York's Erie County in which residents received a free pint with their first COVID-19 shot, resulted in a record number of vaccinations, says the county's top elected official.

County Executive Mark Poloncarz said roughly more people were vaccinated at the first-dose clinics than at most of the county's first-dose clinics in the past week combined. 

"It's been a success, he told The Buffalo News. "We figured it would be pretty good, but now we're seeing the results."

The county partnered with a microbrewery Resurgence Brewing Company for the "Shot and Chaser program."

Erie follows other local government with such a program including New York's Suffolk County and New Jersey, in an effort to get more Americans, particularly younger people, vaccinated, as participation rates slow after an initial surge.