Budget 2018-19

  Pfizer jab is effective against severe disease caused by two variants, Biden backs suspending vaccine patents, and other pandemic-related news across the globe Israel shows the world what return to office will look like Helped by one of the fastest vaccination drives in the world, Israel has more or less reopened its economy and nearly two months after doing so, it is moving on from the work-from-home era, something the world is keeping a close eye on. Employers and employees around the world are watching with interest to see what happens in a country that has come to be seen as a late-pandemic bellwether and how the life after coronavirus looks like. Israel offers a glimpse for other economic hubs of what work may look like soon, as workers and employees alike seek to rekindle the sense of community they lost last year. Read here Let’s look at the global statistics Global infections: 155,216,499 Global deaths: 3,242,360 Nations with most cases: US (32,557,606), India (21,077,410...

  For humanitarian reasons and to keep the rest of the population safe, India cannot afford to leave refugees and undocumented immigrants out of the Covid-19 vaccination drive v Riyaz*, a Rohingya refugee who lives in a crowded camp in Delhi along with nearly 300 others, is desperate to get himself vaccinated against COVID-19. But India’s ongoing vaccination drive is only open to its own citizens or those with any of the 11 identity documents specified by the government. All that Riyaz and the others in the camp have are the refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “A few of us tried to get vaccinated but we were asked for Aadhaar cards,” he told IndiaSpend. The lack of an Aadhaar card also means that refugees cannot get themselves tested for  COVID-19 . Most people were able to earn Rs 500-700 a day earlier to support their family, but now they are not able to find any work. “We need free vaccination because we cannot afford to pay,” ...

SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, is mass producing the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, for dozens of poor and middle-income countries (Reuters) – The UK will receive 10 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the UK government said in a statement on Tuesday. SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, is mass producing the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, for dozens of poor and middle-income countries. “The UK has ordered 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, of which 10 million doses will come from the Serum Institute of India,” a UK government spokesperson told Reuters. Reuters reported in February that Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was auditing the manufacturing processes at SII to pave the way for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be shipped from there to the UK. The mov...