The Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (18) the provisional measure (MP) that allows the purchase of vaccines against covid-19 by the private sector. The text goes to the Senate, where it needs to be voted on by October 25th so it doesn’t lose its validity.
When editing the proposal, in force since June, the federal government argued that vaccination in the country reached sufficient doses to cover 100% of priority groups. In addition, the Ministry of Health has a contract with Pfizer for the purchase of 100 million doses and the possibility of an additional purchase of 50 million.
The MP revokes the obligation to donate part of the stocks purchased by the private sector to the Unified Health System (SUS), as provided for in the law passed during the pandemic (Law 14,125 of 2021).
“[A revogação da lei] will allow the acquisition of vaccines by the private sector directly from suppliers, as with other vaccines, without the requirement of donation to SUS, which already has contracts signed for the distribution of vaccines against covid-19 for the year 2022, collaborating, thus, with the public power in overcoming the world pandemic scenario”, argued the rapporteur, deputy Adriana Ventura (Novo-SP).
In the deputy’s assessment, the current scenario is no longer the one experienced in 2021, when there was a shortage of vaccines in Brazil and in the world. At that time, the private sector was not authorized to acquire vaccines against covid-19, to the detriment of the Public Power. Ventura considered that the SUS has already made vaccine purchases to meet the 2022 calendar.
“There are still about 70 million doses of covid-19 vaccines in stock, which brings security for the continuity of vaccination in Brazil in addition to the contracts already signed for the year 2022”, said the deputy.
