New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Police have introduced a new policy to encourage more vaccinations. Unvaccinated citizens have been given posters bearing a skull and crossbones sign, the universal symbol for danger, saying “Do not come near me, I am not vaccinated. Please stay away from me.” On the other hand, those who have got the vaccination were given a sign with the colours of the Indian flag reading “I am a nationalist.”“Watching the low vaccination rate in our district we decided to honour the people who got vaccinated, but then we also found a large number of people who were not vaccinated,” Santosh Patel, a sub-divisional police officer posted in the Prithvipur block of Niwari district, told Reuters on Thursday.“So to teach them a lesson and encourage them to get vaccinated, we administrated an oath to get them inoculated as soon as possible.”Those who were not vaccinated were given a skull and crossbones sign saying “Do not come near me, I am not vaccinated. Please stay away from me,” according to Patel and video footage from the district. Some people were seen wearing the signs taped to their chest, the report said.The policy has provoked anger online, with social media users calling it an “insult” and “stigmatising”.According to the Reuters report, around 14% of residents in Madhya Pradesh have had one inoculation against coronavirus, with vaccination rates in rural areas like Niwari among the lowest anywhere in the country.Also read: Vaccines at ‘Warp Speed’: The Difference Between the US and IndiaThere have been several other reports of police highhandedness against people who have failed to follow COVID-19 related protocols. For instance, in March last year, policemen in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, in a viral video were seen to be using their batons to force migrant labourers to hop like frogs on the road.In March 2020, health officials in Bareilly sparked anger on social media for hosing disinfectant on the migrant workers who had returned to Uttar Pradesh after a 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In May 2020, migrant workers who were walking back to their home states from Tamil Nadu were beaten up by the police and sent to shelter homes. Some of them reportedly suffered injuries during the lathi-charge.Similar incidents of the police using their force on people to enforce the coronavirus lockdown still continues. Last month, a 20-year-old man was thrashed and chased away by cops for not wearing a mask in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district. They also allegedly slapped the man’s sister for coming to his rescue.As on April 30, only 1.97% Indians are fully vaccinated so far, with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh being the worst performers, according to The Print. Even after being the world’s largest vaccine maker, many Indians are finding it extremely difficult to book vaccine slots online, due to a shortage of vaccine supply.