Inoculation team detained in Odisha village, released later

Despite the Odisha government launching awareness campaigns in urban and rural areas to inoculate people to achieve 100 per cent coverage at the earliest, a vaccination team that reached Talsari village under Badakhaman gram panchayat in Mayurbhanj district was detained by the local residents for several hours on Monday evening. Later, Udala block development officer (BDO), local tehsildar and police rushed to the spot and rescued the vaccination team, including an Anganwadi worker and an Asha (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker following a discussion with the villagers after six hours.

As per reports, some villagers of Talsari were given Covid-19 vaccination shots on Monday. Later in the day, the Anganwadi and Asha workers visited the village for inoculating the remaining villagers.

However, the non-vaccinated residents questioned the vaccination team about the reason behind the inoculation drive as they were healthy and fit. The villagers added that they will get their shot after the harvest season of paddy.

When the Anganwadi and Asha workers tried to pursue the villagers to get the vaccine shots, the infuriated villagers allegedly detained the team.

Anganwadi worker Soumya Sucharita Murmu said, “I reached the village at around 2 pm and since then I was kept detained by the villagers. I tried to persuade them to get vaccinated but they did not hear us. They said that there is nothing called coronavirus.”

A local resident, Surendra Murmu alleged, “The vaccination team forcefully vaccinated some people during a campaign.”