​Bogotá DC, August 13, 2020. After a first semester in which the world has faced covid-19 and at the moment in which more than 140 projects are being developed for a vaccine, the National Government now has a vaccination strategy with a prioritization model to respond to the expectation. This was announced by the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Fernando Ruiz, in the debate on political control in the House of Representatives.

"We have been implementing a vaccination strategy that aims to generate access to effective vaccines, and we now have a prioritization model, which is the most important thing at this time," said Minister Ruiz, adding that there is already a prioritized population and which is the people over 60 years of age (6.8 million people), people with comorbidities (6.7 million) and health workers (800,000 people).

Therefore, there are three priority groups that have already been defined and quantified. "In addition to that, our horizon is to create herd immunity which, according to studies, would be achieved by vaccinating 60% of the population, which represents 30 million people," said Ruiz, specifying that these numbers may change since the level of immunity caused by covid-19 disease is still unknown.

The advantages of being in the COVAX

The Ministry of Health is clear that the multilateral COVAX mechanism responds to the policy of procuring and purchasing vaccines, including the covid-19. "There, we make centralized purchases, get better prices and we can pool our resources with other countries to acquire the vaccines we need," Ruiz explained.

Notwithstanding, this mechanism is still consolidating, so the definitions will be refined at the end of August, when a better development of a vaccine is expected.

"This is a mechanism fundamentally for countries with medium and low levels of development, but that does not mean that the purchases made by Colombia determine cross-subsidies. Here, each country buys the quantities of vaccines it requires and will have to finance them from its individual budget," noted the minister.

Therefore, COVAX would guarantee Colombia 20% of the population's vaccines, that is, for 10 million Colombians who are the aforementioned first three prioritized groups. "We understand that this mechanism gives us flexibility, the possibility of better prices and of reducing risk, because the vaccines that are more advanced are already part of COVAX," he said.

The minister also made it clear that vaccine producers have not presented vaccine delivery dates, insofar as they are adjusting their production models. "Our expectation is that the entry of the vaccine will be in the first semester 2021 and within the Ministry's structured plan, distribution would take place throughout that year, guaranteeing all vaccines and the possibility of reaching the entire country," he assured.

In addition to COVAX, the National Government has been having conversations with the producers that are more advanced in their developments, including some confidentiality agreements, in order to have information on the contractual conditions of the sale of vaccines. However, to the extent that the effectiveness of the vaccines and the available quantities of production will become known, the market will balance out, Ruiz explained.

"The country's policy is to recognize existing information, establish contacts with possible vaccine producers, but attentive of having leeway to establish which vaccines could be effective, and to know the outcome of the multilateral mechanisms that could deliver better results for countries like Colombia," said the Minister of Health.

Colombia's Vaccination Capacity

The minister stressed that Colombia annually vaccinates more than 8 million people for different diseases, thus guaranteeing that Colombians will be able to have access to an eventual vaccine since logistics are in place throughout the national territory.

"The logistical and technical capacity exists. Obviously, it is necessary to create conditions for covid-19 because it may require special adjustments, which is also a variable to take into account at the time of purchase," Ruiz explained.

In other responses, the minister stressed that a public-private partnership for health security is important for the country. "In a country that already has a medium-high level of development, that is part of the OECD and that has managed to overcome poverty barriers, it is important to have a future horizon on the possibility of producing vaccines, medical supplies and priority medicines for the country," he said.

For now, the Ministry has already begun an analysis of the existing capacities, to find the possibility of recovering the production capacity of vaccines for different diseases in Colombia. At the same time, it has opened the possibility of clinical studies with different pharmaceutical sectors against covid-19.

Lastly, Ruiz indicated that the Ministry has formed a covid-19 vaccine advisory committee, counseled by INVIMA, INS and experiences from the private sector, to define the criteria to select the best vaccine for Colombians.

"Colombia is cautious and has had a consistent policy for covid-19, referring to the reduction of mortality from the disease and the construction of ICU capacities, so we do not believe that it is the moment to go out on a limb, making decisions without evidence," concluded Ruiz.