Reacción a "Reactions: EMA authorises Hipra's Spanish vaccine against covid-19"

It is a source of pride and joy that we have a Spanish vaccine authorised by the European Medicines Agency against covid-19, developed entirely in our country and in just three years. 

The Bimervax vaccine uses two recombinant proteins of the alpha and beta variants of SARS-CoV-2 (it is therefore bivalent) and has shown great advantages in clinical trials: very good immune response against the variants of concern declared so far by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a maintained and long-lasting response (at least six months and studies are underway to see if it can be maintained for longer, so that it can be used annually), with greater spectrum of coverage (it includes proteins from two variants) and with fewer side effects than RNA vaccines (less reactogenicity in relation to arm pain, fever, etc. ).

The vaccine employs the well-known technology of using recombinant proteins (similar to other vaccines, such as hepatitis or papillomavirus, for example) and has important logistical and economic advantages: it can be kept stable (2-8°C) without the need for freezing or deep-freezing (unlike RNA vaccines) and is likely to be cheaper than RNA vaccines.  

The vaccine is licensed for booster doses for those aged 16 years and older. As the virus is likely to remain with us and we must continue to protect the most vulnerable people, we now have a highly effective vaccine that could be administered annually to this group.

We should be very proud of this development carried out in our country by the company Hipra and my sincere congratulations for the initiative, the personal and collective effort, the investment of millions of dollars and the perseverance, which are the elements that have made this historic milestone possible.