Covid-19 vaccine resear will be founded with 30 million € by the Spanish goverment
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish President has announced today the decision of the Council of Ministers to allocate 30 million euro for the research of the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus vaccine.
This budget item will go to the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), State Agency for Scientific Research and Technological Development, and the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), dependent on the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Specifically, 25.2 million euro will go to the ISCIII, of this amount, 24 million will directly finance research projects and programs for the new coronavirus. The ISCIII, as a research funding agency in the health field, will develop an urgent aid program for projects aimed to the creation of knowledge about the infection, to analyze and understand the biology of the virus, develop new therapeutic and prophylactic options, including vaccines, develop an epidemiological surveillance system and analyze its impact from the point of view of health services. The ISCIII will have 1.2 million euro to cover exceptional needs, such as the acquisition of material or the payment of guards for the increase in services
Much of the leading role is also taken by the National Centers for Microbiology (CNE) and Epidemiology (CNE). In the case of the former, which offers support to the National Health System centers in cases where infectious diseases generate a public health alert, it is mainly responsible for the analysis and confirmation of cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The ISCIII has also developed a commercial techniques validation program for the detection of SARS-CoV2 in clinical samples. In this way, it responds to the fact that different companies have developed commercial kits for the detection of the coronavirus. These techniques have not been clinically validated nor have they yet obtained the European Commission seal, but the ISCIII makes this validation program available due to the growing and urgent needs of healthcare centers, making it easier for these commercial kits to be available to the National Health System in the shortest time possible.
