Home truths about door-to-door vaccinations for persons with disabilities

Denial of doses to persons without IDs, absence of segregated data and low awareness pose question mark on campaign

Earlier this year, when the country was in the grip of the third wave of Covid-19, the family of Prasad Yadav wanted to get him vaccinated. But they didn’t anticipate the hurdles that came in the way of the 45-year-old resident of Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

Yadav, who has cerebral palsy, lost his vision two years ago. He lacks identity cards such as a PAN (permanent account number) or Aadhaar, which records biometric details that he simply cannot provide due to his inability to keep his head or fingers still.

The fact that he doesn’t have a disability card was enough for