Villagers jump into river to evade shots

Villagers jump into river to evade shots

Arshad Afzaal Khan TNN

Ayodhya:25.05.2021

Even as people in many states are scrambling to get vaccinated, residents of a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district fled their homes and jumped into the river Saryu when a team of health officials reached there to carry out a vaccination campaign on Saturday evening .

Residents of Sisauda village later said they jumped into the river as a rumour had spread in the village that it was not a vaccine but a poisonous injection.

Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Rajiv Shukla said, “We reached the village with a medical team to vaccinate villagers. However, as soon as they saw us approaching, many of them ran away. When we tried to stop them, they jumped into the river.”

“We tried to sensitise them about the importance of the vaccine but they did not relent. We tried hard to allay their apprehensions, but only 14 people got themselves inoculated,” he said.

Residents of Sisauda village in Uttar Pradesh said they jumped into the river as a rumour had spread that it was not a vaccine but a poisonous injection. Officials tried to convince the villagers, but only 14 people got inoculated