-The Telegraph The bench asked additional solicitor-general to give details to rebut allegations that jabs were being administered forcibly to people, including school kids Covid-19 vaccines are not mandatory, not even for children, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai, however, asked additional solicitor-general Aishwarya Bhati to come out with details to rebut allegations that vaccines were being administered forcibly to people,...

-The Hindu ₹3,976 crore spent during 2020-21; ₹100 cr promised for vaccine development not allotted The PM CARES Fund collected ₹10,990 crore since its inception in March 2020 until March 2021. It spent ₹3,976 crore during the 2020-21 financial year, according to the audited financial statement posted on its website. As on March 31, 2021, the Fund had an unspent balance of ₹7,044 crore. The Fund was set up to deal with “any...

-The Hindu Negotiations are at a “critical and sensitive” stage in Geneva, say sources India runs the risk of being excluded from a proposal it co-authored at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, in 2020, to “temporarily waive” intellectual property rights (IPR) held, by primarily Western countries, on vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for covid-19. Geneva Health Files, a Switzerland-based newsletter portal that tracks developments in intellectual property, first reported on Friday that “a...

-The Telegraph The health ministry, ICMR and DBT said they have not received any share of the Rs 100 crore pledged from the PM CARES Fund The department of biotechnology in the Union science ministry has spent only 13 per cent of the Rs 900 crore earmarked for Covid-19 vaccine development 14 months ago and multiple government departments have not received money for jabs pledged by the Prime Minister’s Office 20 months...

-TheWire.in None of the departments associated with India's COVID-19 vaccine development efforts received any money from the fund. New Delhi: Even as the COVID-19 pandemic had its second-worst impact in India, among the world’s countries, and as its vaccine supply has suffered through many ups and downs, the PM CARES Fund, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up to deal “with any kind of emergency or distress situation,” failed to allocate the...