ABSTRACT
Deliberation is desirable in the public health field, even in emergency scenarios, where decisions must be made quickly and with a high uncertainty degree. An analysis of the decision-making process in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia and in the months around the start of vaccination was carried out, considering the concept of public deliberation and with emphasis on the decisions of the National Government related to the health sector. A qualitative study of content analysis was carried out, using as information source the documents from the web pages of the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia, the Ministry of Health, and the Congress of the Republic and pages of social organizations, particularly representative of the vulnerable population and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The deliberative spaces for decision-making related to the health sector during the pandemic in Colombia were limited to formal settings where the participation of biomedical experts and technicians from central government entities was privileged. It is necessary to include scenarios with a greater capacity for public deliberation in future preparedness plans for this type of emergency.
KEYWORDS
Management quality circles; Pandemics; Democracy; Decision making