The incident was caught on camera and has gone viral on social media. It happened on Thursday morning. People can be seen in the video waiting for the vaccination centre’s shutters to be raised. People can be seen ducking and running in when the doors are half-open, trying to get a seat on the chairs set up inside. A community hall in the Lodikheda area of the Sausar block has been converted into an immunisation centre, according to District Immunisation Officer L N Sahu. A large crowd gathered outside the centre before it opened at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Later, police were called in to help contain the scene.
Lodikheda is around 60 kilometres from the district headquarters in Chhindwara, where free vaccination clinics are available for residents of all ages who can walk in and collect their doses. Rural blocks will receive 3,000 doses, while urban blocks will receive 4,000. These are evenly divided throughout the centres. On Thursday, Chhindawar distributed 22,469 pills, compared to the initial allocation of 21,910 doses. Mahesh Aggarwal, Tehsildar of Sausar Block, explained that the allegations that the throng had gathered because the administration had announced that people would be denied free rations if they were not vaccinated were false.
