La adquisición de vacunas contra la COVID-19 por Colombia: entre la confidencialidad y la falta de transparencia

Through an interpretation method based on the documentary review, the article criticizes the impossibility of carrying out timely surveillance of the negotiation process of the Colombian Government with pharmaceutical companies to acquire COVID-19 vaccines, thereby It gave priority to confidentiality as a free market prerogative over the principle of transparency as a state authority through the application of timely and adequate surveillance. First, an analysis is made of the decrees that grant extraordinary powers to the President of the Republic and the jurisprudential provisions of the high courts. Then, the normative foundation of the principle of transparency is proposed as the guiding principle of state contracting. There is also a contrast between the possibility of imposing confidentiality clauses, typical of private contracting, with the requirement to exercise vigilance as a guarantee of transparency in negotiations involving public finances. Finally, by highlighting the tension between the free market and fundamental rights, a reflection is made regarding the deficit in safeguarding the right to health due to the lack of timely surveillance that, because the principle of transparency is subordinated to confidentiality, it leaves open the possibility of a crisis of legitimacy, credibility and trust in the State.