Hungary: Baton raised, orchestra conductor gets vaccine shot

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — 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 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 on Wednesday night. While confirmed virus cases and deaths are down in Hungary after a deadly spring, the vaccination rate also has slowed dramatically. More than 32% of the Central European country’s adult population has not received a first shot amid stubborn vaccine hesitancy.