Approved. Vaccine for COVID-19 will be free for all Colombians

After controversies, polemics and lying articles, this Wednesday night, the Senate of the Republic gave the green light to the initiative that establishes that the vaccine against COVID-19 in Colombia will be free for all citizens, regardless of race, sex or socioeconomic status.

At the beginning of this week it was proposed that the free vaccination be exempted to Colombians belonging to strata 5 and 6. NowAfter the recent approval, this project was dropped and all citizens will be able to enjoy immunization free of charge.

“The vaccines will be free for all beneficiaries. The Government, through the Ministry of Health, with clinical, medical, scientific, epidemiological criteria, will prioritize the most vulnerable population, as the vaccine arrives”Said Senator Fernando Nicolás Araújo, rapporteur for the bill.

The stretch

And it is that the project that seeks that all Colombians have free access to the vaccine is not from now. In fact, the project has been ‘sounding’ in the plenary sessions of Congress since July this year and it was proposed that immunization against the new coronavirus be free. In addition, within the project items it was suggested that companies would have tax discounts if they donated resources so that the country could access this drug.

Despite the constant requests from senators about this project, especially from Congressman Ricardo Ferro, from the Democratic Center, since the middle of the year, It was only until October that President Iván Duque began with the management for the project to be issued urgently.

After the delayed pronouncement of the head of state, the project “made its way” in the plenary sessions of the congress without problem. Now, after having completed the process in the Chamber and Senate, the project of free vaccination for covid was given free rein and the Duque Government will be able to “enter into strategic alliances with multilateral organizations and the private sector” in order to prevent future sanitary situations similar to the current one.

Although there was no major difference due to the free vaccination for the entire population, Yes, one of the articles of the project generated controversy, which contemplates a tax reduction of 50% to those who donate resources for the purchase of immunization. The senator of ‘Los Decentes’, Gustavo Bolívar said that this only benefited people with higher incomes and was not fair.

From the center, Senator Iván Marulanda assured that with this point “The value of tax benefits is charged to the less favored sectors, since they are resources that the State ceases to receive.”

The secondary effects of the vaccine and the responsibility that, with the sentence, would not fall on the pharmaceutical companies, was another of the controversies on the night of the approval. Senators of ‘the greens’ such as Antonio Sanguino and Angélica Lozano, They questioned this aside and said that it is reprehensible that the Government seeks to exonerate pharmaceutical companies and laboratories from responsibility for possible adverse effects of the vaccine. To the pronouncements, MinSalud recalled that the time in which the vaccine to be applied shortly was developed was not long enough to carry out the tests and test its possible contraindications, which would make the risk shared.

Although the congressmen voted in favor of the initiative, It is still necessary for President Iván Duque to approve the motion and thus, by presidential sanction, it enters into force throughout the national territory.