RESEARCHERS IN Italy have claimed to have developed a successful vaccine against Covid-19.
Scientists from Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital, which specialises in studying infectious diseases, say they have successfully developed a vaccine which neutralises the coronavirus in human cells.
Luigi Aurisicchio, Chief executive of Takis, the company working on the treatment, told Italian news agency that tests carried out on mice created antibodies after just one vaccine, which they expect to also work in human trials.
“This is the most advanced stage of testing of a candidate vaccine created in Italy,” Mr Aurisicchio said, adding that “as far as we know we are the first in the world so far to have demonstrated a neutralisation of the coronavirus by a vaccine”.
The Italian researchers aim to make the vaccine “available to everyone”.
Human trials are expected to take place after the summer, he told the outlet.
While the researchers are developing the vaccine with “Italian research, with an all-Italian and innovative technology, tested in Italy” he said that the vaccine, if successful, will be made available to everyone.
“In order to reach this goal, we need the support of national and international institutions and partners who may help us speed up the process.”
The researcher worked on developing a vaccine which centred around the coronavirus’s ‘spike’ DNA protein which it uses to latch on to and enter human cells, and so far the trials are proving a success.
The next part of the vaccine trial will be to test how long the immunity lasts.
Meanwhile in the UK, human trials have begun on a vaccine developed at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, with researchers there saying a vaccine could be available as early as September.
