BUENOS AIRES (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2021) Ecuador is starting pre-clinical trials of a domestic vaccine against COVID-19 using animals, and the drug may be ready for clinical trials in one year, the head of the biomedical research laboratory at the Espol public university, Washington Cardenas, told Sputnik.
The laboratory started the work on creation of a national recombinant protein vaccine in May 2020.
"We are at the stage of pre-clinical trials using mice. We are starting trials," Cardenas said.
The scientist declined to comment on how the vaccine works until the end of the trials.
According to Cardenas, the vaccine may become effective against new variants of the virus. When asked about the timing of clinical trials, the head of the laboratory expressed hope that "the vaccine will be ready [for them] in a year."
Ecuador has so far reached agreements on vaccines deliveries with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac as well as through the Covax international mechanism.
