TWO Spanish pharmaceutical companies are working on at least one vaccine each against Covid-19 – the first known ones in the country to become involved.
Although clinical trials are under way in at least three hospitals in Spain – two in Madrid and one in Santander, Cantabria – these are preparing inoculations for the Belgian company Janssen, the European holding of US-based Johnson & Johnson.
And Spanish scientists and trial volunteers based in the UK are on the 'Oxford vaccine' team, meaning the country has been very involved from the start.
But Rovi Farma and Zendal are the first two manufacturers on home ground, and brief details of their work have been revealed by health minister Salvador Illa.
Rovi Farma, in Madrid, had already been confirmed as the manufacturer for the vaccine developed by the US company Moderna, and it has now been revealed that the inoculation under construction by Novavax is due to be mass-produced by the Spanish bio-pharmaceutical company Zendal.
Clearly, this does not mean the vaccines made in Spain will land in the country first, or as a priority, since development is global and quotas have been set aside for different nations or blocs of nations, such as the European Union, to ensure fair distribution.
Justice and equality reasons aside, it would not make sense for only a handful of countries to have full access to the immunisation, since these would still be at risk from people in territories that did not have it as international travel means any contagious condition can swiftly become a pandemic, as has already been seen with a virus that appeared to be confined to the Chinese city of Wuhan and, within less than two months, ended up affecting almost every town and village on earth.
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