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Five professionals from the sector brought together by the ADEA Forum (Association of Directors and Executives of Aragon) analyze the situation and the post-pandemic future under the heading 'Covid-19 Horizon: vaccination, treatments and new diagnoses'
The experts gathered yesterday by the ADEA Forum (Association of Directors and Executives of Aragon) under the heading Covid-19 Horizon: vaccination, treatments and new diagnoses, declined to set a date on which the desired herd immunity against the coronavirus will be reached. . They assured that giving dates can create false expectations, since it depends on the rate of arrival of the vaccines, among other factors.
Telematically, Nelson Fernandes, general director of Certest Biotec; Esteban Rodríguez, CEO of Biofabri, a Galician biotechnology company, the only one that manufactures vaccines in Spain; César de la Fuente, professor in Pennsylvania recognized as the best young researcher in the United States; Alfredo Corell, professor of Immunology at the University of Valladolid; and Carmen Álvarez-Domínguez, researcher in Immunotherapy at the International University of La Rioja and immunologist, presented their vision about vaccines and the post-pandemic future.
Professor Corell stated that "the authorities have insisted on setting dates that later have to be corrected because things like shortages happen." However, he pointed out that by the end of the year the situation may be better: "I hope that at the end of 2021 we will see life differently. "The virus is here to stay and we have to live with it, maintaining all protective measures." To reach herd immunity, it is necessary to reach 70% of the immunized population, either through infection or vaccination. But this 70% barrier can also vary, Corell explained, depending on the duration of immunity, the effectiveness of the vaccines or whether they cover 100% of the virus variants. If not, the percentage would have to go up to achieve herd immunity.
Along these lines, Esteban Rodríguez pointed out that "just as important as the vaccination percentage is the fact that it has been started by the most sensitive population." For this reason, he considered that "even if 70% is not reached, if those over 60 have been covered, the situation will change completely" since the impact on the population that until now has suffered the most from mortality from the disease will be drastically reduced. covid-19.
The good news, said immunologist Carmen Álvarez-Domínguez, is that "the effectiveness of the vaccines has been overwhelmingly good" and that "the side effects are not only very low, but there are almost none." Álvarez-Domínguez stated that "the negative thing is the slow rate of vaccination" that is occurring.
Furthermore, the ADEA Forum made it clear that there are important bets for the future, from Spain and in other countries.
At Certest Biotec, in addition to starting the process of creating vaccines that the company announced with the visit of the Minister of Science, Pedro Duque, they are working on tests to analyze the effectiveness of immunization. Nelson Fernandes, its general director, indicated that they work on "other forms of diagnosis because from the moment we vaccinate the population, we have to know what the immune response of those vaccinated is." Thus, they are developing a test "to quantify these antibodies to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine." He recalled that at the San Mateo de Gállego plant they produce 200.000 PCR tests per day, and 6 million antigen tests per month.
In the coming weeks, the vaccine being developed by Biofabri will enter the clinical phase, which will be the first in Spain.
And César de la Fuente, from the United States, is working on the creation of quick and cheap tests to achieve high-frequency mass screening. A system that detects the virus in 4 minutes and costs only $5. "The goal is to create tests that everyone can use, not just people with financial availability," said De la Fuente. "What we identified in the prototype is the union between a virus and a receptor agent, so it can be extrapolated to other infectious diseases," he explained.
