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The Senate plenary said yes to the bill by Representative Ricardo Ferro that establishes this immunization mechanism as a general interest of the nation.
Since July, a bill has been filed in Congress that proposed that the COVID-19 vaccine be declared of general interest and that businessmen have a tax discount if they donate resources to purchase it. However, it was only in October that the government of Iván Duque paid attention to the project and sent an urgent message so that its processing was expeditious.
Congress responded to the belated call and expressly processed the authorship project of the representative of the Democratic Center Ricardo Ferro. The project went through without major problems through the Third Committees, which met jointly, and a similar path in the plenary sessions of the Chamber and Senate.
The Senate was in charge on Wednesday night of giving the last yes necessary so that, by law, the COVID vaccine is declared of general interest. In addition to this point, the government was empowered “to enter into strategic alliances with multilateral organizations and the private sector” to respond to any threat or pandemic, not only in the current contingency.
The bill approved this Wednesday also contemplates granting a tax discount of up to 50% in income tax for those people who donate resources for the purchase of the vaccine. This figure is similar to what is known as tax works.
This was one of the most controversial points, since, from the discussion of the presentation, senators like Gustavo Bolívar opposed the reduction of taxes on the richest. Iván Marulanda, from the Greens, added at this point that the allocation of public resources was being handed over to private parties. “The less favored sectors are charged with the value of tax benefits, since they are resources that the State ceases to receive,” the Antioquia senator also commented.
Another of the controversies of the night came in the section in which the pharmaceutical companies are freed from responsibility for side effects of the vaccine. “They 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 on them in the approval process,” reads the approved text.
Several objections were presented from the opposition, led mainly by senators from the Green Alliance. Antonio Sanguino and Angélica Lozano criticized that the Government was seeking to free pharmaceutical companies and laboratories from responsibility in the event that the vaccine caused counterproductive effects in the patients in which it is applied.
To these criticisms, the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, pointed out that this point was “the core” of the project because “it gives the possibility of having effective access to the vaccine.” Ruiz recalled that the times in the development of this vaccine do not meet the ideal times for testing, so the risk had to be shared.
The highlight of the night was the free vaccination. Although the committee had approved this to be the case for the entire population, Senator Efraín Cepeda managed to introduce in the plenary speech that strata 5 and 6 were exempt from this benefit.
This point was not accepted by the majority of the plenary, which changed the added paragraph to establish that it was the Ministry of Health that would establish the priority for access to the vaccine. In this way, it was stated that the COVID-19 vaccine will be free for all those who want to access it in Colombian territory.
As the final text approved by the Senate has some variations compared to the one that was processed on Tuesday night in the Chamber, the bill will have to be reconciled by speakers from both corporations. This procedure is expected to take place as soon as possible so that the president can pass the law in the coming weeks.
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