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After obtaining suppliers for only 2.3% of the total syringes and needles it planned to buy for vaccination against Covid-19, the Ministry of Health prepares new auctions to buy the supplies.
Offers must be made in January. The information was confirmed to leaf by the portfolio press office on Monday evening.
The expectation of new auctions had already been transferred to companies interested in participating in the dispute, according to leaf learned. According to this forecast, the new bidding processes would take place between January 15 and 20.
After the failure of the first session, held on the 29th, the ministry’s technicians have been talking with the companies that presented themselves to the dispute. Both parties are trying to adapt the proposals and the pasta is more likely to agree to pay more for syringes and needles.
The Ministry of Health left the selection of providers of basic supplies for vaccination against Covid-19 for the third to last day of the year. He planned to buy 300 million syringes and needles to immunize against the new coronavirus and another 31.2 million against measles. He managed to guarantee the purchase of only 7.9 million.
The price charged by the companies was the main factor in the auction’s very low success rate. The main manufacturers say they charge 20 cents a unit, and the Ministry of Health has refused to pay that amount, according to these companies.
By leaving the purchase of inputs to the last minute, the portfolio faced a shortage of products, a global dispute over inputs and impractical prices due to high demand.
Even predicting staggered supply until December 31, 2021 and accepting batch portions of products between companies, it was not successful.
The government of Jair Bolsonaro (without a party) is at war with the government of João Doria (PSDB), which commands the state of São Paulo. Doria went ahead and held 27 auctions to buy 100 million syringes and needles, completed six days before the Ministry of Health auction.
Of the estimated 100 million, it managed to guarantee the purchase of less than half: 50 million syringes and 48.8 million needles, the auctions separated one item from the other, contrary to the criteria adopted by the federal government. To reach this number of purchases, he agreed to pay very different amounts to the companies.
The lowest amount to pay for a syringe will be R $ 0.16. The largest, R $ 0.50. The São Paulo State Health Secretariat also selected providers with individual price proposals of R $ 0.20, R $ 0.26, R $ 0.35 and R $ 0.36.
The cheapest needle to be delivered to the government of São Paulo will cost R $ 0.09. The most expensive, R $ 0.17. Thus, a complete kit can cost up to R $ 0.67.
Internally, the Ministry of Health admits that there was a procedural error in the attempt to acquire supplies at a time when the country is trying to start vaccination against Covid-19. But so far, the vaccine doesn’t even exist. No request for emergency use was made to Anvisa (Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria).
Brazilians have seen the vaccination process in Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Costa Rica for days. There is no scheduled date for the start of immunization in Brazil on a national scale.
The Ministry of Health says, in a note, that the auction for the purchase of syringes and needles took place “within the legal process.” “The appeal phase is provided for by Law 8,666 (the bidding law). The federal government believes that it will sign the contracts in January, ”the note says.
The first lots to be delivered, if the auction had not failed, would reach 20 million syringes and needles. The supply would be carried out until January 31, according to the documents of the auction carried out. This delivery would continue throughout the year, with the final 20 million until December 31.
One measure adopted, in an attempt to guarantee the purchase of products, was to hinder exports, as is the case with masks, gloves and lung ventilators.
According to the Ministry of Health, within the tripartite logic of the SUS (Unified Health System), there is a “satisfactory stock” of syringes in the country’s vaccination posts. “These supplies, in fact, can be used to start vaccination quickly and safely,” says a note on the folder.
