Residents of a village in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh have refused to take the Covid-19 vaccine, the health department failing to convince them to take the shots for the third consecutive day on Friday.

Eyewitnesses said while the men in Jeevangarh village refused to talk to reporters, the women said they have developed distrust for “certain things” and don’t want to “die”.

“There are many people who contracted coronavirus after taking the first vaccine dose. We have heard that we need to stay at home for a few days after receiving the jab. This is not possible as we have to go out to work daily to feed our families. Also, we don’t want to die. Certain things have happened in Uttar Pradesh in recent weeks which have created a fear psychosis,” said Mehran Nisar, an agricultural worker, apparently alluding to hundreds of bodies seen floating in the Ganga.

“Some villagers who had taken the first dose developed some infection and were admitted to hospital. They eventually died there. We don’t want to die,” Rukhsana Begum, another resident, told reporters.

Earlier, the villagers of Nai Basti in Mathura had refused to take the vaccine. Out of a population of 1,500, only 20 have received the jab.

Last week, around 1,000 out of 1,500 residents of Sisaura in Barabanki district had jumped into the Ghaghra river when a medical team reached there to administer the vaccine. Those who stayed back in the village were equally sceptical about taking the shot.

Rajiv Shukla, sub-divisional magistrate of Barabanki, said: “So far 14 villagers have taken the vaccine. We are trying to make them understand the necessity of vaccination and hope that they will come around soon.”

“Those who had jumped in the river realised later that we were not forcing them to go for vaccination. We were only trying to tell them the benefits of the vaccine,” added Shukla.

State health minister Jai Pratap Singh said: “There maybe some people who have been misinformed by some politically motivated persons. However, we believe that people are slowly realising that vaccine is the only way to control the effect of the virus. We are continuing the (vaccination) drive and hope to complete 100 per cent vaccination in the next two months.”