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The Congress of the Republic approved in the last debate the vaccine bill, which establishes mechanisms to facilitate access to immunization against the coronavirus.
The initiative has already passed all its process in the Legislative and only has conciliation, after which it will pass into the hands of the president Iván Duque to become law. However, the approval of the bill was fraught with controversy due to an article that generated a whole discussion in Congress and was finally approved by the Legislature.
The provision that generated debate corresponds to article five of the bill that, according to experts, such as former Minister of Health Alejandro Gaviria, exempts pharmaceutical companies from responsibility for possible adverse effects that the vaccine may have.
(See also: ‘It has already been approved that the vaccine will be free for everyone’: Ferro)
“The manufacturers of vaccines against Covid-19 acquired and supplied by the National Government will only be responsible for malicious or seriously culpable actions or omissions, or for the breach of their obligations of good manufacturing practices or any other obligation that has been imposed in the approval process, ”says the article.
Precisely, in an article published in EL TIEMPO, the former Minister of Health and today rector of the Universities of the Andes, Alejandro Gaviria, and the researchers Claudia Vaca, Carolina Gómez and Tatiana Andia (founders of the Centro de Pensamiento Medicamentos, Información y Poder de the National University), assure that “Everything indicates that the Ministry of Health of Colombia would have to sign multilateral and / or bilateral agreements to access vaccines with leonine clauses based on the premise that in order to access vaccines it is necessary to completely exempt pharmaceutical companies from any responsibility ”.
(Further: ‘They smuggled protection to pharmaceutical companies’: Sanguino)
Faced with this, the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, admitted that this decision had to be made because the vaccine is being developed in less than 11 months.
“The pharmaceutical companies are requiring this disclaimer that practically everyone is having to accept,” Ruiz said.
What laziness, but it was time to get legal bricks regarding the exemption of civil liability for COVID vaccine manufacturers, which is in a bill approved yesterday in plenary of @CamaraColombia. Of course, opinions are heard and ideas are discussed. 🧵
– Carolina Gomez (@gomezcarolina) November 26, 2020
As explained by the representative Juanita Gobertus, what this implies is that the State will have to answer for any lawsuits that are presented due to adverse effects.
Anticipating this scenario, the project established that “the National Government, subject to the availability of resources, may contract a global coverage policy to cover possible convictions that may arise for adverse reactions to the vaccines against Covid-19 applied by the State. Colombian”.
Free
Despite this controversial point, this bill, authored by congressman Ricardo Ferro, resolves many of the concerns of Colombians regarding access to the vaccine, since it will enable the National Government to establish strategic alliances and allocate health resources in vaccines tests against Covid-19, or any other pandemic that may arise in the future.
The initiative allows the private sector to deduct taxes if they contribute resources to the National Risk Management Fund, which is the exchange created by the State for emergency mitigation, as is the case of the acquisition of vaccines and other activities focused on achieving immunization in the national territory against this pandemic.
(More about the vaccine: Vaccine at all costs: reflections after days of intense public debate)
The idea is that companies that file income tax are exempted from paying 50 percent of this tax if they contribute resources that allow the purchase of vaccines.
“With this law we are going to guarantee that public resources can be allocated for the acquisition of the vaccine, but we will also guarantee that businessmen can join what can be called a great ‘cow’, where there will be public resources and private resources for the massive purchase of vaccine ”, assured the representative Ferro.
The congressman added that this law will allow “all Colombians to have free access to the vaccine.”
Another key fact was that an article was included that obliges the Government to carry out pedagogical campaigns about the immunization process, in order to facilitate vaccination and that there is confidence in the public.
Likewise, the Executive will have to present a periodic report on the steps taken on the subject.
More about the vaccine
– 10 Things to Know About Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine
– Article that collected the covid vaccine falls to high strata
– ‘Pharmaceutical companies will not respond for adverse effects of the vaccine’
POLITICS
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