Hungary: Baton raised, orchestra conductor gets vaccine shot

A Hungarian orchestra conductor received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot onstage during a free open-air concert in Budapest to encourage people to get vaccinated

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- A Hungarian orchestra conductor received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot onstage during a free open-air concert in Budapest on Wednesday as part of an effort to encourage people to get vaccinated. Budapest Festival Orchestra conductor Ivan Fischer removed his jacket to reveal a white dress shirt with a hole cut out of the sleeve. As he kept his baton moving and the orchestra played on, a doctor administered the shot, Fischer's third dose, to applause from the crowd. The carefully choreographed action was an attempt to “further raise awareness of the need for vaccination” in Hungary, the orchestra's managing director, Orsolya Erdodi, said. "Vaccination can give us the chance to live and work in a normal way of life again, just as we did before the coronavirus pandemic,” she said.