Human clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine get approved by Spain

The first phase of human clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine produced by Spanish firm Hipra was approved by the pharmaceuticals agency of Spain on Tuesday.

The clinical trials will recruit dozens of volunteers from Spanish hospitals “as soon as possible,” according to the statement.

If the vaccine is authorized, Hipra, situated in Girona in northeastern Spain, estimates that it will be able to produce up to 400 million doses in 2022 and 1.2 billion in 2023.

“This is the first trial on humans of a vaccine made in Spain,” according to a statement of the agency.

Shortly after the trials were allowed, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted, “Today we have taken a big step in the fight against the pandemic.”

Hipra has been working on two Covid-19 vaccines having manufacturing bases in Spain and Brazil.

The first is based on the same RNA messenger technology as Pfizer and Moderna’s doses, while the second, which has just gotten trial approval, is based on a recombinant protein like Novavax, a US-based drugmaker.

The European Union is now using four Covid-19 vaccines: Pfizer’s, which is the backbone of its vaccination program, as well as AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson’s.

The Pfizer vaccination must be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes its protection and shipping difficult.

Hipra claims that its experimental vaccination can be stored at temperatures ranging from two to eight degrees Celsius, which “simplifies logistics and distribution.”

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