COVID | DD News

September 10, 2025 1:20 PM

US health officials compiling examples of COVID vaccine harm during pregnancy, WSJ reports

Top health officials under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are compiling examples of harmful effects from COVID-19 vaccines on pregnant women to share with the public, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary and the agency's top vaccine and biologics official Vinay Prasad are seeking to lift privacy protections around certain data on COVID-19 vaccines and preg...

May 26, 2025 2:16 PM

Guidelines issued to hospitals as Delhi govt closely monitors Covid cases: CM Rekha Gupta

With Delhi crossing the 100-mark in daily Covid-19 infections, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday assured the public that the government is closely monitoring the situation and has issued guidelines to all hospitals. Urging people not to panic, CM Gupta said, "Guidelines have been issued to all hospitals, and the government is closely monitoring the situation." She further added that all state-run hospitals are equipped with the necessary facilities to manage the rise in cases. ...

May 21, 2025 11:37 AM

WHO members adopt global pandemic accord, but US absence casts doubts

Members of the World Health Organization adopted an agreement on Tuesday intended to improve preparedness for future pandemics following the disjointed global response to COVID-19, but the absence of the U.S. cast doubt on the treaty's effectiveness. After three years of negotiations, the legally binding pact was adopted by the World Health Assembly in Geneva. WHO member countries welcomed its passing with applause. The pact was touted as a victory for members of the global health agency a...

April 28, 2025 10:21 AM

India shared 300 million vaccines globally during COVID-19: Piyush Goyal

India provided nearly 300 million vaccine doses to less developed and vulnerable countries through the Vaccine Maitri initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic — many of them free of cost — ensuring that no nation was left behind during the global health crisis, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said on Sunday. Speaking at the World Health Summit (WHS) Regional Meeting Asia 2025 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Goyal emphasized that, unlike several countries that imposed ex...

April 22, 2025 11:42 AM

India’s DBT system yields Rs. 3.48 lakh crore in savings, boosts welfare efficiency: report

India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system has resulted in cumulative savings of Rs. 3.48 lakh crore by plugging leakages in welfare delivery, reveals a new report by the BlueKraft Digital Foundation. The findings, endorsed by the Ministry of Finance, underscore the transformative impact of DBT on public spending efficiency, subsidy rationalisation, and social inclusion. The report evaluates data from 2009 to 2024 and introduces a Welfare Efficiency Index (WEI), a composite metric that trac...

April 1, 2025 3:32 PM

RBI pivotal in India’s rise as global digital payments leader: President Murmu

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been instrumental in positioning India as a global leader in digital payments, President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday. Speaking at the closing ceremony of RBI’s 90th Anniversary commemoration in Mumbai, President Murmu credited the central bank for continuously modernizing India’s payment infrastructure, ensuring secure and seamless transactions. She highlighted the transformative impact of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which has revolutionized...

March 19, 2025 10:39 AM

India achieves significant milestones in financial inclusion: over 55 crore Jan-Dhan accounts opened

India has reached significant milestones in financial inclusion, with the National Mission for Financial Inclusion (NMFI), launched through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in August 2014, recording the opening of over 55.02 crore Jan-Dhan accounts as of March 7. Of these, 36.63 crore accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas, underscoring the scheme's reach in underserved regions. The Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, shared this information in a written reply to the R...

October 14, 2024 4:57 PM

Supreme Court rejects plea alleging side effects of COVID-19 vaccines

The Supreme Court of India on Monday dismissed a petition alleging that COVID-19 vaccines caused severe side effects, including blood clotting, calling the plea as an attempt to create unnecessary alarm. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, declined to entertain the petition, stating that it lacked merit. "We don’t want to rake this up. This is just to create a sensation," remarked the bench, questioning the usefulness of the petition....

October 8, 2024 3:38 PM

Pfizer, BioNTech win bid to invalidate CureVac’s UK COVID vaccine patents

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Tuesday won their attempt to invalidate two of rival CureVac's patents at London's High Court. Pfizer and BioNTech had filed their lawsuit in September 2022 over patents relating to messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which underpins Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine. Tuesday's ruling relates to the London leg of Pfizer, BioNTech and CureVac's global legal battle, which also involves litigation in the United States and Germany. Pfizer and BioNTech a...

September 19, 2024 5:28 PM

Global health fund says health, climate, conflict ‘triple whammy’ hits world’s poorest

Climate change and conflict risk overshadowing efforts to improve people's health, when in reality the issues overlap, Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said. He was speaking in London ahead of Thursday's release of the Global Fund’s 2024 report covering its work last year, which showed improvement in tackling the three diseases after COVID-19 knocked efforts off course. Despite the progress, Sands said another pandemic legacy is that donor governm...