New Delhi, Jun 7 (IANS): With a view to facilitate access to vaccination for persons with disabilities, the Central government on Monday directed all states and Union Territories (UTs) to include the Unique Disability Identification (UDID) card in the list of prescribed photo ident documents for Covid-19 vaccination.

Union Health Ministry, in a letter, told states and the UTs to include the UDID card as a photo ID while registering on CoWIN 2.0.

As per the guidance note for CoWIN 2.0 issued on March 2 this year, seven prescribed photo IDs were specified and prescribed for verification of beneficiary prior to their vaccination.

In its letter, the Union Health Ministry stated that the UDID card, issued to persons with disability by 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 necessary provisions for same are being made and would be available in CoWIN shortly," it said.

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

The move is another step taken by the Central government under its approach for ensuring smooth and effective Covid-19 vaccination drive which started on January 16.

The government has developed the CoWIN digital platform to streamline the process of vaccination for various categories of beneficiaries across the country, and it provides the technological backbone to effectively roll out and scale up the mechanism for the Covid vaccine distribution system.