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Indian child dies of rabies; denied vaccine due of lack of biometric Aadhaar ID
- firasd 7y agoIn a previous HN discussion about 1.5 years ago[1], someone justified Aadhaar with a 'meta question': "how is a nation state supposed to provide unique identity authentication". I think about that sometimes, because the way this ID was being linked to Indian citizens, based on the threat of everything from our bank accounts to our phones being shut off otherwise, didn't feel very philosophical and meta. This tragedy with the vaccine refusal is another example of how normalizing authoritarian ID systems can harm people. (Facial recognition being used during the protests in Hong Kong is another salient example.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16781301 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16781301
- joshstrange 7y agoNot sure if the title is really truthful, it sounds like the first day they went that was the reason (lack of Aadhaar ID) but they had it the subsequent days. The articles hints at that doctors don't like to administer the drug unless they have a 4-5 cases because the vials go bad but that seems like speculation on why it wasn't given not a confirmed reason.
- firasd 7y agoFair enough. The state of healthcare in that area for that demographic in general is to blame (not to mention specific neglect in this case.) But I think the fact that the first, front-line refusal was based on Aadhaar is relevant...