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Date Published: 04/08/2021
ARCHIVED - Low up-take on pharmacy Covid tests in Murcia
The Region of Murcia sold the fewest Covid self-testing kits in all of Spain
Throughout Spain pharmacies sold a total of 386,155 Covid antigen tests during the week of July 19 to 25, the first in which they were available without a prescription, according to data from the consulting firm IQVIA. In the Region of Murcia, 2,169 tests were sold over the counter, fewer than any other community in the country.
Nevertheless, sales of the pharmacy testing kits rose by 319.6 per cent compared with the previous week, when a prescription was still needed to purchase them.
The Royal Decree allowing the sale of over-the-counter antigen tests was passed on July 20, something which the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, believes will go a long way towards ensuring that Covid infections are identified early, particularly in the younger age groups.
"The requirement of prescription was a barrier," she said.
So far, Catalonia has had the highest uptake in self-testing kits, accounting for 42 per cent of the sales in Spain. It is followed by Madrid (58,893), Galicia (43,627), Andalusia (34,430) and the region of Valenci (32,017).
Given the high demand for tests in much of Spain, IQVIA experts have warned that the existing stock will not be enough to meet requirements, and pharmacies are already in danger of running out.
To date this year, counting antigen tests purchased both with and without prescriptions, a total of 625,484 have been used in Spain, with the Region of Murcia accounting for just 3,518 since January.
The Spanish Government has confirmed that it will not regulate the price of the self-testing pharmacy kits, since they fall under the range of "medical devices" rather than "medicine", whose price is set by the Ministry of Health through the European Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMS). Ultimately it will be down to the pharmaceutical companies to decide on a fair price for the new antigen tests, with costs generally ranging between 6 and 10 euros.
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