Spain gets green light to test home-grown COVID vaccine on humans

Sanchez has announced a bonus of €400 for young people

Sanchez has announced a bonus of €400 for young people. Image: Pedro Sanchez / Twitter

The medicine agency in Spain has authorised the first clinical trials for the Covid vaccine that was developed by Spanish company Hipra.

The medicine agency in Spain has authorised the first round of clinical trials for the Covid vaccine that was developed by Spanish company Hipra, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced today, August 11.

The early stages of the clinical trial will see dozens of participants from hospitals in Spain to test the efficiency, immunogenicity, and tolerability of the drug said the medicines agency.

Hipra has manufacturing bases in Spain and Brazil and said it could produce up to 400 million doses of the vaccine in 2022 and 1.2 billion in 2023.

“Spain’s medicines and health products agency has just authorised clinical tests of the Spanish COVID vaccine on humans,” Sanchez told a news conference in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

Hipra is a pharmaceutical lab that mainly researches and manufactures veterinary vaccines and has been working on two COVID-19 shots, according to Metro.

One of the shots is based on the same RNA messenger technology used in the Pfizer Moderna dose, the second, which has just been approved for trial, uses a recombinant protein like the American based drugmaker Novavax.

In other news for Covid in Spain, self-diagnostic tests for the coronavirus are now being sold in pharmacies in Spain at a low cost. The tests are available without a prescription, and can even be taken at home. Many people though prefer to have a little help from the pharmacist or even have the pharmacist do the test for them.

Pharmacies began to sell coronavirus self-diagnostic tests without prescriptions on Thursday, July 22. According to pharmacies, this could not have come at a better time. They have been experiencing extremely high demand for the tests, something which has surprised many professionals.


Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.

Written by

Laura Kemp

Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

Comments