Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Wednesday that will provide disability benefits to first responders who contracted COVID-19 before vaccines were available. House Bill (HB) 3162, known as the Act-of-Duty Bill, previously only provided disability pay for various physical and mental conditions, including heart attacks. Specifically, the law provides benefits for those [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Thursday blocked President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees. The decision came from an en banc rehearing of the appeal, which was previously decided in favor of the government by a three-judge panel of the same court. The case turned on the central issue [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Tuesday issued a 10-2 opinion affirming a lower court’s decision to dismiss claims for federal hazard pay based on exposure to COVID-19 made by a group of federal correctional officers from Connecticut. The court considered “whether theory of recovery satisfies one of specifically delineated categories for [...]

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhnom Ghebreyesus Saturday spoke with the Director of China’s National Health Commission Ma Xiaowei about the COVID-19 surge the country is currently facing. During the meeting, Chinese officials provided information to WHO on the outbreak in China. The information included “outpatient clinics, hospitalizations, patients requiring emergency treatment and [...]

The Pentagon Tuesday ended its COVID-19 vaccination requirements for US Armed Forces members, 96 percent of whom are now vaccinated against the illness. The Department stated in a memo that it will continue to promote COVID-19 vaccination among the armed forces. The memo alters the impact of the National Defence Authorisation Act which came into [...]

After successfully flattening the curve in late 2020, India witnessed a horrific resurgence of cases. Many attributed this to the “policy casualness” of the government of India, and the lack of effective measures taken by it to ensure social distancing and the wearing of masks. As restrictions were lifted, sights of holiday-goers reaching jam-packed airports [...]

The second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has highlighted the coronavirus’s unpredictability. It spares no one, from the rural to the urban, Hindu to Muslim. Although the virus is identity-blind, the central government’s plan of action engenders economic and social discrimination. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare declared in a press release that beginning from May [...]

Many state governors’ actions related to quelling the COVID-19 in Brazil appear to neglect constitutional provisions. So much so that many states’ Governors of the Brazilian Federation decided to adopt lockdown, despite the fact that the World Health Organization itself has already concluded that lockdown is not the primary measure aimed at combating the terrible [...]

Governor Cuomo is in hot water on three fronts: the COVID-19 limitation of liability for nursing homes order he did, the undercounting/reporting of nursing home deaths, and the sexual harassment in the workplace and otherwise. This note will focus on the hypocrisy with respect to the first of these: the COVID-19 limitation of liability for [...]

The Brazilian Supreme Court delivered a very important decision related to compulsory vaccination to immunize the population against the coronavirus (Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality #6586/6587). During the judgment, Justice Lewandowski stated that “collective health cannot be harmed by people who deliberately refuse to be vaccinated, believing that they will still selfishly benefit from herd immunity”. [...]