Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández passed a law this Sunday authorizing the Department of Health and the Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS) to direct the purchase of vaccines against coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
The law was enacted by the Honduran ruler “hours after” it 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 this Saturday passed a law authorizing the Department of Health to acquire vaccines against Covid-19 through the Pan American Health Organization’s revolving vaccine fund (OPS), of mechanisms already in place and “directly, without intermediaries and without being subject to the provisions of the Contracting State”.
The purpose of the law is to speed up the process of obtaining the vaccine without “ having to be bound by Covax because of the continuous changes in the delivery date that this international mechanism has incurred for which the government has made a formal claim, ” the government added. Executive.
Covax is the mechanism instituted by the Global Alliance for Vaccination (GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide governments with early access to a broad portfolio of covid-19 vaccine candidates.
NEGOTIATE AND BUY RUSSIAN VACCINE
The law means that the Sanitary Regulatory Agency (Arsa) can certify vaccines, making it possible to ‘negotiate and buy’ the Russian Sputnik V vaccine that WHO and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA, for the acronym in English) but prequalified.
“The government is already in advanced negotiations at the highest level for the direct purchase of vaccines, not only with the manufacturer of Sputnik V in Russia, but also with pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer and Moderna, to gain access to immunization against the disease as soon as possible, ”he stressed.
The Ministry of Health of Honduras it is authorized to “acquire directly, without intermediaries and without being subject to the provisions of the Contracting Government, and to take appropriate and relevant steps to obtain vaccines against the virus,” he added.
In doing so, it should “prioritize the immediate availability of the vaccine in the shortest possible time and its availability in sufficient quantity for the entire population, and include it in the National Vaccination Schedule through the Expanded Program of Immunizations (EPI)”, according to information .
The initiative also empowers it IHSS to take over the vaccine in a “direct manner, without intermediaries and without being subject to the rules of the Contracting State”, to effect the vaccination of its members.
The Ministry of Health and the IHSS They will be able to sign a partnership agreement that will allow for the “expansion and rapid vaccination coverage of insured family members and other specific populations”, in line with the guidelines envisaged in the National Plan for the introduction of the covid-19 vaccine. EFE