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Two announcements made by the Government of President Iván Duque could quickly become the issues of political control or electoral campaign for next year: the vaccination plan against covid-19 and the need for a new tax reform.
(Also read: This will be the complex distribution of the covid-19 vaccine in the US)
Regarding the vaccination plan, the Deputy Minister of Health, Luis Alexander Moscoso, said this week that the doses for Colombians would begin to be supplied in the first half of 2021, more precisely in the month of April.
And a few hours after this announcement, the Ministry of Health admitted in a response to a right of petition of Congressman José Daniel López, that most Colombians would have to wait until 2022.
The statements uncovered the letters so that the opposition parties questioned the government’s agility to acquire the vaccines, which are still in the testing phase, and to design a mass vaccination plan.
Official data indicate that Colombia secured 20 million doses through the Covax mechanism, which brings together 186 countries, with an investment of 200 million dollars. These would be ready when Covax representatives close the purchase agreements.
(It may interest you: Most Colombians will have to wait until 2022 to get vaccinated)
In addition, Resolution 2327 allowed for the allocation of 123 million dollars for the acquisition of 10 million doses from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. However, when compared to other countries in the region, the numbers show a notable difference.
Data from the Health Unit of this newspaper indicate that Chile has secured 84 million doses outside the Covax mechanism; Argentina, 47 million; Mexico, 160 million; and Brazil, 196 million.
With these accounts, the Liberal Party began a campaign to publish a daily counter of the deaths that occur due to the coronavirus pandemic in Colombia, while reminding the government of Iván Duque of the delays for the vaccine to arrive.
“We told them at the Party convention: 2021 seems bleak, zero vaccines and more taxes and tributes for the middle class, and the poor favoring the powerful to pay the costs of the pandemic,” said the director of liberalism, former president Cesar Gaviria.
“We are going to publish this pain chronometer until all Colombians are vaccinated. It is true that the issue of buying vaccines is complex, but the announcement to vaccinate Colombians in 2022 is heartbreaking. It is a deadly ineptitude, ”added the secretary of that community, Miguel Ángel Sánchez.
(See also: How does the new vaccine law benefit Colombians?)
Other parties, such as Cambio Radical, have also joined in the pressure and criticism. Representative José Daniel López, who presented the right to petition that exposed the government’s vaccination plan, said on his Twitter account:
“That’s why they weren’t responding! According to @MinSaludCol, most Colombians will have to wait until 2022 for the vaccine, hopefully ”.
The tax reform
The other sensitive issue is tax reform. Calculations indicate that the Government could have a fiscal gap of between 20 and 36 billion pesos, so it will have to turn to a new tax issue.
On the table is the discussion whether to increase the VAT or increase the tax base, if the resources allocated for the peace process are cut or the exemptions that many taxpayers enjoy are eliminated.
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Representative César Lorduy, from Cambio Radical, admitted that tax reform is necessary, but it will make campaigning more difficult for some parties in the 2022 parliamentary and presidential elections.
In statements to W6, the El Tiempo podcast, Lorduy proposed that the Government seek a moratorium on the payment of the foreign debt, while managing to cover a good part of the fiscal gap that the pandemic produced (Listen to his statements here).
TIME
