Digital Health IDs Not Mandatory To Get Vaccinated, Says Health Ministry

New Delhi: The health ministry clarified on Tuesday that digital health identity won’t be mandatory for vaccination against COVID-19 and multiple other identity proofs can be produced by people to receive shots of the vaccine when it’s available.

“The National Digital Health Mission as it exists today does not make digital IS or health ID mandatory to receive service under the digital ecosystem that NDHM has created. Therefore, to say that it would become mandatory for vaccination and those who do not have health IDs will be deprived is probably not the right interpretation,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

“Health IDs would be utilised. In those cases where the individual recipient or beneficiary does not have a health ID, there are multiple other IDs that can be utilised as is the case in the present NDHM,” the health secretary added.

Bhushan underlined that the process would be almost like an “electoral scenario” where multiple IDs are prescribed beforehand so that no one is deprived of voting on the day of the election, according to the national daily.