Senate releases private purchase of vaccine against Covid without counterpart to SUS

The Senate approved this Tuesday (25) the provisional measure that repeals the law that established counterparts to the private sector in case of purchase of Covid-19 vaccines.

The project was approved by symbolic vote. As there were no changes in relation to the text sent by the government, it goes on for promulgation.

The repealed law authorized companies to buy, distribute and administer vaccines, provided that at least 50% of the doses were, mandatorily, donated to the SUS and the others were used free of charge.

In a report, Senator Wellington Fagundes (PL-MT) acknowledged that, when the law was enacted, it was “unreasonable to allow the vaccination of people outside the priority groups to take place – due to their greater purchasing power and their ability to pay by immunization—, before other individuals at greater risk for Covid-19, not least because this would result in less efficiency of immunization of the population as a whole and in exacerbation of health inequities.”

With the reduction of new registered cases and deaths and the purchase of vaccines by the Ministry of Health, the scenario in the country has changed, says the rapporteur.

“With the declaration of the end of the health emergency, the authorization for the acquisition of vaccines against Covid-19 by the federated entities and for the assumption of risks related to civil liability in relation to adverse post-vaccination events ceased to take effect”, he adds. .

With the enactment of the provisional measure, says the rapporteur, the “private sector will be able to use all doses of vaccines acquired from suppliers, without having to comply with the requirement of donating 50% to SUS, an obligation that has become unnecessary.”