Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on Sunday sanctioned a law authorizing the Ministry of Health and the Honduran Institute of Social Security (IHSS) to accelerate the direct purchase of vaccines against cancer.SARS-CoV-2 oronavirus.
The law was sanctioned by the Honduran leader “within hours”, was sent by the Honduran Parliament and then sent to the National Graphic Arts Company for publication in the official newspaper La Gacetathe presidency said in a statement.
The National Congress on Saturday approved a law authorizing the Ministry of Health to purchase covid-19 vaccines through the Pan American Health Organization’s rotating vaccine fund (OPS), from mechanisms already established and “directly, without intermediaries and without being subject to the provisions established in the law of state contracts”.
The purpose of the law is to expedite the process of purchasing the vaccine without “being required to be bound by Covax due to continuous changes in the delivery date of this international mechanism before which the Government made a formal request.” added Executive.
Covax is the mechanism established by the Global Alliance for Vaccination (GAVI), the Coalition for Innovation in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide governments with early access to a broad portfolio of covid-19 candidates.
NEGOTIATE AND BUY THE RUSSIAN VACCINE
The law stipulates that the Agency for Health Regulation (ARSA) can certify vaccines, which allows it to “negotiate and buy” the Russian Sputnik V vaccine that the WHO and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, for its acronym in English) still prequalified .
“The government already has advanced negotiations at the highest level for the direct purchase of vaccines, not only with the Russian manufacturer Sputnik V, but also with pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer and Moderna, to access immunization against the disease as soon as possible, “he stressed.
Ministry of Health of Honduras he was authorized to “purchase directly, without intermediaries and without being subject to the provisions of the law on state contracts and to carry out the appropriate and relevant steps to obtain vaccines against the virus,” he added.
In this process, it should give “priority to the immediate availability of the vaccine as soon as possible and its availability in sufficient quantity for the entire population and incorporate it into the National Vaccination Scheme through the Extended Immunization Program (EPI)”, according to the information .
The initiative also authorizes IHSS to speed up the purchase vaccine in a “direct way, without intermediaries and without being subject to the rules established in the Law on State Contracts”, in order to vaccinate its members.
Ministry of Health and IHSS They will be able to sign a cooperation agreement that allows for the “prompt extension and coverage of vaccination of relatives of the insured and other specific population groups”, in accordance with the guidelines set out in the National Plan for the introduction of the covid-19 vaccine. EFE