Upon President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's approval, Mexico could jumpstart the development of the National Virology Center until 2023 to confront epidemics like COVID-19, according to a recent article.

Carlos Arias Ortiz, a researcher from the Biotechnology Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) who is pushing for the establishment of the virology center, this issue "is a matter of national security.

As of this writing, the center is being evaluated for approval of the National Council of Science and Technology, which will be followed by allocation of the budget for its development, Arias Ortiz told the local media.

However, he said that so far, this process is "moving slowly" and he hopes that the council would soon come up with a decision.

The establishment of this center allows 10 to 15 different virology research groups in the country, to address areas such as respiratory viruses (Covid-19 or influenza), gastrointestinal viruses, those transmitted by mosquitoes (dengue, zika), cancer or HIV, said Arias Ortiz.

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"The center could begin in 2023, this if there are resources. Its creation is being considered, hoping that the budgets exist. Of course, there are many priorities and many problems, so, for now, it is being evaluated, I would like it to be so," said Arias Ortiz who is also the recipient of the National Prize of Science and Arts.

As the pandemic hits countries across the world, it is high time that the federal government realizes the relevance of science and, therefore, extends its support. Throughout the years, the budget that Conacyt has for the help of science has been relatively low and insufficient.

National Virology Center will also possibly attract young scientists who have left the country and those who are initially planning to.

Conacyt director María Elena Álvarez-Buylla told Mexico's local newspaper also said that it is the time to bet on science. She said the center would serve as an international reference that will generate a technological platform that "allows a rapid response to situations such as the current epidemic in terms of vaccine production, rapid and cheap diagnostic methods, evaluation or development of antivirals."

To do this, we must have a particular structure, plan it and create it not overnight, from one year to the next, but in the medium term to make progress on these technology platforms that can quickly adapt to the problems we face," said Álvarez-Buylla.

She added that once the infrastructure and coordinated groups are established, Mexico would stop putting its national security at risk, because it would stop being "in line to get a possible cure for Covid-19, we could try and get into that scenario. Otherwise, we have to wait for them to be developed first, to be produced massively, and then to be distributed among the countries, then it depends on its turn."