Lino Barañao: What is the true role of the State in the production of the vaccine?
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The official responsible for the Science, Technology and Innovation area during the governments of Cristina Kirchner and Mauricio Macri, Lino Barañao, commented this Friday on the announcement by Alberto Fernandez and Ginés González García that Argentina will start with the production of a vaccine against him coronavirus.
In dialogue with the journalist Luciana Vázquez, in The cross-question, broadcast by LN +, the former official commented that “The agreement is between private parties, but there was an important state investment” to arrive at the experimental vaccine produced by the British laboratory AstraZeneca that develops the drug investigated by the University of Oxford.
In this way, the Government guarantees prompt and equitable access in the event that it is approved. Barañao said that “it is a recent phenomenon”, and highlighted: “Something that can be rescued from the effect of the pandemic is that somehow before public opinion it became clear what is the importance of a public-private partnership in the scientific field. “
“Basic research alone is a necessary condition, but not sufficient for the result of this investment to reach the population. There must be an interface that is a company, it can be public or private, but that converts that knowledge, in this case, into a vaccine. That connection in Argentina was very difficult, “he remarked.
Regarding the state’s role in this alliance, the former Secretary of Science of Macri explained that, although the private sector is the main protagonist, “it would not have been possible if the State had not invested in human resources.”
With respect to scientific investment in the country, said that “en Argentina is made by the State in 75% “, given that there are very few technology companies, nor large multinationals that invest: “The big businessmen who have invested are counted on the fingers of their hands.” While in developed countries the research budget exceeds 1% of GDP, although most of it corresponds to investments made by technology companies.
Finally, Barañao referred to degree of effectiveness in the Argentine society of science: “The Conicet It recently rose several points, almost 60 places, and is among the first in Latin America. It rates very well in posts, almost at maximum, but not so much in transfer and impact, because traditional culture aimed to bring knowledge to the world, to give it away practically “.
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