Soon, people with disabilities (PwDs) can use their Unique Disability Identification (UDID) Card as a Photo ID to register themselves on the CoWIN platform for vaccination, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

“This has been done to further facilitate the access to vaccination by disabled people and in this regard, the Centre has written to all the States/UTs to include it as a Photo ID for registration,” said a statement issued here by the Ministry. The necessary provisions for the same are being made and would be available in CoWIN shortly, it further stated.

As per the guidance note issued on CoWIN on March 2, seven prescribed Photo IDs were specified and prescribed for verification of a beneficiary prior to their vaccination.

“In the letter written to the States and UTs, the Ministry has stated that the UDID card, issued to PwDs by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has all the necessary features such as the name, year of birth, gender and photograph of the person, and meets the criteria for use of identification in COVID-19 vaccination,” the Government said in a statement.

The Health Ministry has also advised the States and UTs to widely publicise the use of UDID card as a permissible photo ID for accessing Covid vaccination.

According to the 2011 Census, there were 2.68 crore PwDs, while till mid-March this year just around 54.84 lakhs e-Unique Disability Identification (UDID) cards have been generated in 710 out of 734 districts across States/UTs. Thus, indicating the slow pace of the UDID project which is envisaged to be the national database for the PwDs, for issuance of UDID Cards in order to enable the sector to avail various concessions under schemes meant for their welfare.

The DEPwD plans to cover an additional 10 lakh persons by December to reach 65 lakhs.