Vaccine hesitancy: Madhya Pradesh man climbs tree with wife’s Aadhaar card

At a time when more than 310 million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have been administered in the country, there are still some people who are hesitant in getting vaccinated against Covid-19. An example of this vaccine hesitancy was seen in Madhya Pradesh, where a man climbed a tree to prevent health workers from inoculating him.

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The incident took place in Patan Kalan village in Rajgarh district, according to Hindustan Times' sister publication Live Hindustan. A team from the health department set up a vaccination camp in the village. While several villagers turned up to get vaccinated, a man, identified as Kanwarlal, was adamant he won't take the shot. Villagers somehow convinced his wife to get vaccinated and brought her to the vaccination centre but when Kanwarlal came to know, he climbed a tree with his wife's Aadhaar card.

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As an Aadhaar card is required to verify a beneficiary's identity at the time of vaccination, villagers asked Kanwarlal to come down. However, he came down only after the health department team left the village. Later, upon receiving information, medical officer Dr Rajiv from a nearby block arrived in the village to counsel Kanwarlal after which all his misconceptions about Covid-19 vaccines were cleared.

It is said that Kanwarlal did not get vaccinated nor let his wife take the shot also because he was scared that vaccination leads to high fever, body ache and cold. Fever and body ache are common side-effects of a Covid-19 vaccine which go away in a day or two. Also, most people taking a vaccine shot do not develop these side-effects.

Kanwarlal and his wife will now be vaccinated when another vaccination camp is set up in the village.