Uttar Pradesh: Barabanki villagers jump into Saryu to avoid vaccine shot

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