A Covid vaccination centre in Moscow, Russia, is enticing people to get inoculated by giving away free ice cream, as only 38 percent of Russians are ready to receive the Sputnik V jab, according to a recent poll.
Bloomberg reported that with Moscow being one of the rare places with an oversupply of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine and with few opting to get the inoculation, the centre has decided to take a different approach and lure in people with the sweet treat.
"Yesterday we had a line of 35 people, but the crowds are cyclical and today the weather's not in our favour," said Natalya Kuzentova, the head doctor of the vaccination centre.
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According to Kuzentova, about 300 people get inoculated daily at the mall.
There has long been some mystery surrounding Russia's self-developed Sputnik V vaccine, with developers - the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund - having not yet published phase 3 trials data in a peer-reviewed western publication.
Information about numbers of Sputnik V vaccinations are also limited, as the government stopped providing regular updates after their figures were questioned.
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"Moscow is the only region where the vaccine is readily available," said Alexander Dragan, an independent data analyst.
Dragan also estimated that less than one percent of Russia's 146 million population will have received the vaccination by the end of the month.
"Even there, the process is too slow, it's a catastrophe," he added.
And while people are receiving the vaccine at an accelerated rate - with 66,000 shots per day administered in Russia - Dragan believes it will be a few months until the country truly undertakes mass vaccination.
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Meanwhile, Russians aren't the only ones getting creative when convincing others to receive the jab - other incentives in getting vaccinated against coronavirus across the world include Yankee Stadium offering team 'trinkets' to Bronx residents who get the shot there.
Companies are also toying with the idea of offering incentives to employees who get vaccinated, with a recent poll by Perceptyx reporting that monetary incentives are the best way to encourage workers.
According to the poll, six out of 10 workers would get vaccinated if their employers gave a $100 incentive.
Employees are also more likely to get the vaccine if they think their employers 'care about them as a person'.