Myths about the jab: Some Malihabad villages resist vax

Nowadays every villager has a smart phone and there is so much misinformation, that it has amplified anxiety among them following which they are not going for inoculation VIMAL KUMAR, Former head, Virahimpur village in Malihabad

LUCKNOW : Despite the state government’s aggressive campaigns and endless awareness drives to motivate people for vaccination, some villages in Malihabad and other adjoining blocks are still mired in myths. Villagers here believe that vaccination would kill them or give them deadly fever and other diseases. “Injection would kill them all. There are many villagers who have already lost their lives. They went to the city to get the vaccine and then never returned,” said Bhaiya Lal, a villager from Virahimpur village in Malihabad development tehsil.

Ram Babu, another villager, said the vaccine was not good as it aggravated the disease and eventually led to death. Similarly, other villagers too cited one reason or another for not getting vaccinated.

“Misinformation and vaccinerelated-myths rule their minds. Nowadays every villager has a smart phone in the family and on that phone there is so much misinformation, either through whatsApp or social media, that it has amplified the anxiety among the villagers following which they are not going for inoculation,” said Vimal Kumar, former head, Virahimpur village in Malihabad.

Not far away from Virahimpur lies another village named Mujasa where too there is a lot of misinformation among the villagers. “Some villager say they won’t survive if they get vaccinated, some say they would die of fever and some others say that vaccination will reduce their oxygen level. Though we tried to motivate them, convincing everyone is a tough task,” said Mohammed Miyan, former village head of Mujasa.

Miyan said more than vaccination, there was a dire need to run an aggressive myth-busting programme in the rural pockets of the state capital to make people understand that the Covid 19 vaccine was safe and the only way to break the chain of the virus.

There is a similar problem in some other villages too. However, the district administration has launched a massive vaccination programme in the rural pockets.

Recently district magistrate Abhishek Prakash had visited several villages and created awareness among the masses. “We also held a meeting with the newly elected village heads through zoom on Thursday and directed them to dispel all vaccine-related myths in their villages. The village heads were also directed to get the vaccination of the villagers done,” the DM said.