Argentina is chosen for testing a Covid-19 vaccine
The tests and trials to get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible put the world’s largest laboratories in a race against time and by reputation. The figures tend to vary, but between twelve and seventeen pharmaceutical companies have achieved some degree of progress in this field.
In Argentina, on July 10, President Alberto Fernández received at the presidential residence the general manager of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Nicolás Vaquer, and the scientific director of the INFANT Foundation, Fernando Polack, who informed him that Argentina was selected to carry out of the testing phases for a possible vaccine against the coronavirus COVID-19. The definition is subject to waiting for regulatory approval from the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT), which is already waiting for the documentation to analyse the first results and surely enable testing in the country.
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced in a joint statement that the country will carry out one of the people testing phases. “The selection of a centre in Argentina to carry out these studies was based on different factors, which include the scientific experience and operational capabilities of the Principal Investigator’s team, the epidemiology of the disease, as well as Argentina’s previous experience in the conducting clinical studies, “they reported.
The other central factor in choosing Argentina as the only country in South America for these tests is that the metropolitan region that links the capital with the province of Buenos Aires is the area most affected by infections and is where the virus is in full circulation. Both the capital Buenos Aires and the province bearing the same name have maintained a level of daily contagion of around 1,500 people in recent weeks. The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) has a population of 13 million people who cross the boundaries between the two districts daily because almost seven million inhabitants of the province work in the capital.
“The third phase of tests of vaccines of this type already requires increasing the number of patients and being applied in the area where the virus circulates,” said the Argentine Minister of Health, Ginés González García.
Both Pfizer and BioNtech SE previously stated that they expect to be able to begin Phase 2b / 3 studies this July, pending regulatory approvals.
That of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE is one of twelve vaccines that are being tested in humans (clinical phase) around the world according to the records of the World Health Organization (WHO).
As soon as the announcement was made, Pfizer’s shares shot up on the Wall Street Stock Exchange and rose 4.88 per cent, the Bloomberg agency reported.
