India is planning to add a facial recognition system based on Aadhaar, the country’s centralized biometric identity program, to the national Covid-19 vaccination drive. The proposal has prompted criticism from tech experts and digital rights advocates.

In an interview last week, chair of the National Health Authority chair R.S. Sharma said that the government is testing the system in the state of Jharkhand. He added that facial recognition, as opposed to the fingerprint and iris scans currently being used, would make the entrance to vaccination centers “contactless” and reduce the spread of infection.

Aadhaar now contains the biometric data of over 1.2 billion people. Sharma added that, should the vaccine identification project be rolled out, the use of facial recognition would not be mandatory and that individuals seeking immunization could confirm their identity by other means. Still, the proposal has prompted 10 rights and digital freedom advocating organizations to sign a statement highlighting their a number of concerns. 

“What we are concerned with is that, firstly, it would lead to exclusions. The second issue is that the right to privacy of Indian citizens will be harmed if this initiative is put into place,” said Anushka Jain of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group and publisher of the document.