Rappi criticized for offering vaccine to “best delivery people” in Colombia

Rappi, the delivery app company, last week announced the purchase of vaccine doses from Sinovac to immunize 2,000 delivery applicators in Colombia. The information is from the newspaper El Tiempo. The initiative, however, was the target of criticism on social networks. That's because Rappi decided to prioritize the vaccination of workers who have made the most deliveries. “We will prioritize those who, in their history, have spent more time connected to Rappi and making deliveries. We understand that they are those who are most at risk of contagion”, the company said in a statement. Many internet users saw the action as a discriminatory gesture that favors, above all, the company itself, and not the employees themselves. Part of the critics argues that the distribution of doses purchased by the company follow criteria already adopted by health authorities, such as prioritizing people with comorbidities or who are older. Today, the Colombian national immunization plan serves people aged 45 and over. The purchase of vaccines by private companies is authorized in Colombia by an April 19 resolution. The text says that companies "may establish prioritization to apply the immunization agents and cannot exclude anyone who has any contractual relationship in force with the company and lives in the national territory." To the BBC, Rappi sent a note stating that there was " misinterpretation” on the company's immunization proposal. "We regret that an initiative based on concern arising from a global health emergency has been misinterpreted and we apologize for the misunderstanding," he said, adding that "we support partner delivery partners who are more exposed to contamination and do not belong to the priority group in Colombia".
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