President Petro Wants to Resume State Production of Vaccines in ColombiaPresident Petro asked that “Drogas la Rebaja” be managed by the National Government
Presidency – Archive EL TIEMPO
President Petro calls for the resumption of state vaccine production
This Saturday, President Gustavo Petro arrived in Paz de Río, in Boyacá, to meet with the community and address the problems that afflict the region. In the middle of the work table, he reiterated the importance of Colombia resuming the manufacture of vaccines.
(Also read: ‘The reform has been demonized, but I admit that we have not been good informers’).
The president stated that the National Institute of Health used to produce vaccines for humans and Vecol for animals, a model he seeks to recover: “Now it is about doing both, but to start production of vaccines in Colombia made by the state through Vecol and hopefully using the resources of Drugs the Rebaja”.
To this end, the president explained that Drugs the Rebaja must be transferred to the Ministry of Health in such a way that the company contributes to the implementation of three significant programs: every drugstore should be part of the Primary Care Centers, which should be responsible for the delivery and sale of much cheaper medicines, and which should take advantage of the drug production companies that it has to join the production of vaccines with Vecol.
(Of interest: Esperanza: the moving photo of the rescue of the children that President Petro trilled).
“The fear that exists in some for this to come true must cease. Drugs the Rebaja must be a public institution, and even though the domain has already been extinguished, it belongs to the state, but at the service of the most needy people in the country, covering the entire country, as this is already the effort of the health reform” confirmed Petro.
During the 90s, the production of vaccines in the country ceased because the world rules for the manufacture of biologicals changed. Therefore, during that time, the governments preferred to import vaccines from foreign pharmaceutical companies which are still in use today.
(Keep reading: President Petro affirms that police officer’s cause of death was by suicide).
During that time, according to figures from the National Institute of Health (INS), Colombia produced two and a half million doses of vaccines against yellow fever, 140,000 of human anti-rabies, around six and a half million BCG doses (against tuberculosis), almost six million triple DPT vaccine doses (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), 11 million tetanus toxoids, 30,000 doses of anti-venom serum, and 5,000 anti-rabies serums between 1996 and 1998.
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