“We arrived later, but adapted to the different variants”, explains the virologist Luis Enjuanes
The virologist of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) Luis Enjuanes has explained to the Efe agency that the nasal vaccine against the coronavirus will be ready at the end of 2023. Before that it will not be possible “given the complexity” of the serum, whose prototype is in the elaboration.
“We arrived later, but adapted to the different variants”, highlighted Enjuanes, after indicating that the tests carried out to date show a “disinfectant protection”before moving on to the next phase of testing on animals and then on people.
The tests on macaques, for which it will be necessary to count on the collaboration of foreign laboratories, will begin that year. Undertaking trials in people will involve significant funding, which should have funds not only from the Government but from multinationals.
new waves
Regarding the current situation of the pandemic, the CSIC virologist has predicted that in autumn there will be “new waves”, from covid-19, although he has specified that they will be “much softer”. It will not be eliminated but it will lead to a “seasonal virus” to which society “will get used to” and will be “more attenuated”.
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Enjuanes made these statements in Ávila, minutes before receiving one of the Gredos awards in Guisando, which in its XXXII edition recognized, among twenty winners, the Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti; to the representative of Spain in the last edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, Chanel Terrero, and to the Madrid writer Almudena Grandes, posthumously.
Meanwhile, the other Spanish vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical company Hipra, is in the final stretch of clinical trials. In a recent interview with EL PERIÓDICO, Hipra’s director of R&D and records, Elia Torroella, commented that the serum could be approved for the October vaccination campaign. Regarding its effectiveness, the head of the laboratories explained that the technicians had observed high levels of neutralizing antibodies after 14 days, three and six months. “We have also seen that the use of this vaccine as a booster dose in patients previously vaccinated with other platforms generates a more durable immunity & rdquor ;, she added.