Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 6:14 p.m.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Tuesday that Spain will buy 3.2 million Hipra vaccines for 31 million euros. The development of a vaccine by a Spanish company is “a historic milestone with all the letters,” Sánchez said on Tuesday during a visit to the company’s central laboratory, in the Girona town of Amer, accompanied by the Minister of Health, Juan Manuel Minions.
On March 30, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the go-ahead for the Hipra vaccine as a booster dose. As the CEO of Hipra, David Nogareda, recalled this Tuesday, his vaccine is “the first and the only one” against covid that has been designed, developed and manufactured in Europe. In the opinion of the person in charge of the pharmaceutical company, this compound “will play an important role in the vaccination plans of Spain, Europe and the world.”
Sánchez stressed that the success of the Hipra vaccine must reinforce two pillars. On the one hand, science, “because a country without science is a country without a future.” On the other, public health. “For a ruler to decide to weaken it is the worst decision he can make,” he added. He also advocated for “strategic autonomy” through reindustrialization.