The Spanish COVID vaccine developed by the National Center for Biotechnology and granted free of charge by CSIC to the WHO in August 2023 remains, almost three years on, without having begun human clinical trials. This is confirmed by the Ministry, headed by Diana Morant, in an official document signed by Eva Ortega Paíno, the Secretary General for Research, which states that since the transfer “there have been no significant advances in the development, licensing, manufacture or distribution of the vaccine,” also acknowledging that it remains without additional public funding derived from the transfer and without meaningful progress in its development or deployment.
The information appears in a resolution signed on April 16, 2026 by Eva Ortega Paíno, the Secretary General of Research, in response to a public information access request submitted by THE OBJECTIVE under Law 19/2013 on Transparency, after which the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities agreed to “grant access to the information requested” and responded in detail to a battery of questions about the project’s evolution since February 2025. In it, they asked about the current status of the vaccine, whether changes had occurred compared to the information provided a year earlier, whether the State had funded any costs arising from the transfer to the WHO, and whether human clinical trials had finally been conducted.
The file recalls that the injection, developed by the esteemed researchers Juan García Arriaza and Mariano Esteban, was ceded to the WHO in August 2023 to facilitate its availability in developing countries, but the documentation sent by the Ministry does not include information about new milestones of the project since then. It also does not offer forecasts about possible future trials or about a potential reactivation of its development.
The Spanish vaccine “is not progressing”
According to the resolution, “since its transfer to the WHO in August 2023, there have been no significant advances in the development, licensing, manufacturing or distribution of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine generated by CNB-CSIC,” so the scenario has not changed compared to the resolution issued in February 2025 about which this newspaper already reported. “No changes have occurred regarding the information provided in the previous resolution, maintaining the free transfer and the absence of human clinical trials,” the Ministry literally states in the document.
“No costs have been funded to the WHO nor to any other entity since the transfer, from February 2025 to the date of this response,” the resolution notes, after which, when asked about the total amount and its breakdown by year, the document succinctly replies: “Not applicable.” As for trials, the official answer remains negative: “No human clinical trials (Phase I, II or III) have been started or conducted.” As a consequence of that circumstance, all questions relating to participating countries, the number of volunteers or financial compensations become moot. The Administration once again replies that “not applicable.”
The Ministry also rules out any other relevant development since the previous response. Specifically, it states that “no significant advances or changes (including manufacturing agreements, regulatory approval or publication of results) have occurred between February 2025 and the date of the present response,” so the new resolution effectively amounts to a full ratification of the answer issued a year earlier. Indeed, another information request about the same project had already been answered in February 2025. At that time — nearly a year and a half ago — the ministry communicated that “the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 generated by the CNB-CSIC and ceded to the WHO has been free of charge (no amount has ever been funded) and, to date, no human clinical trials have been conducted.”
With this new request, the aim was precisely to determine whether any changes had occurred in that situation in recent months, but the official answer confirms that there have been no modifications in any of the aspects queried by THE OBJECTIVE.
