ITALIAN scientists claim they have developed the first vaccine that can kill coronavirus.
The researchers say they plan to trial their jab on humans in the autumn after lab tests on mice.
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Scientists injected the animals with the virus and discovered they were able to produce antibodies which could block the virus from infecting human cells.
Luigi Aurisicchio, chief executive of Takis Biotech which is behind the vaccine, said: "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."
However, top academics have said they would be surprised if none of the other vaccines in development hadn't shown a similar response in mice.
Experts from Oxford University are already carrying out trials on humans in the UK and plan to have millions of jabs ready by early summer.
As far as we know we are the first in the world so far to have demonstrated a neutralisation of the coronavirus by a vaccineLuigi Aurisicchio
Last week, the team struck a deal with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca for a huge roll-out of the vaccine at cost price.
The company has pledged to produce 100million doses this year if the trials prove positive.
It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday warned that there is no guarantee a Covid-19 vaccine will be found.
Mr Hancock told Sky News: "If a vaccine can't be found then we have to learn to find a way to live with this virus.
"So that means getting the numbers down and holding them down through, for instance, mass-scale testing and then tracing the virus through a combination of technology and human contact tracers."
The Italian researchers compared a single dose of five different vaccine candidates on mice at Spallanzani Hospital in Rome.
All of the vaccines were DNA based, which involve injecting a tiny amount of cloned genetic code from the virus into the body.
This method means that the dose isn't made up of a weakened or deactivated virus so it can be produced on a massive scale in the lab - without needing fresh samples.
It works in a similar way as it would if the recipient was infected with the real virus as it triggers an immune response - the body's own defence mechanism.
The researchers found that each vaccine candidate produced a "strong antibody response" against the virus in 14 days.
But two with the best results were selected as the ones to use for a future clinical study, according to the team.
Antibodies were then taken from the blood of the mice and added to human cells, which were grown in a petri dish.
The scientists said that they were able to fight the infection and successfully prevent SARS-CoV-2 - the virus which causes Covid-19 - from binding to and infecting human cells.
Mr Aurisicchio told Italian news agency ANSA: "This is the most advanced stage of testing of a candidate vaccine created in Italy.
"According to Spallanzani Hospital, 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.
"We expect this to happen in humans too."
He said that human trials are expected "after this summer".
But infectious disease experts say that while the team's findings - which haven't been made publicly available - are promising, they have a "long way to go".
But Dr Andrew Preston, who specialises in microbial pathogenesis and vaccines at the University of Bath, told MailOnline: "It appears they've taken antibodies from the mice, gone into the lab, grown human cells in dishes, added the virus with and without the antibodies and what they are claiming is that the antibodies stopped the virus from infecting the human cells.
"Chances are that is going to happen. But it's a huge extrapolation to say that is what will happen in the course of infection [in a human]."
He added that the Italian team had tested an immune response, and not the vaccine itself.
Professor Adam Finn, of Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre, said: "They have a way to go before they get into human trials - they are about in the same place as most vaccines."
At least eight vaccines are undergoing clinical evaluation to test their effectiveness in preventing Covid-19, according to the World Health Organisation.
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One of which includes ChAdOx1 - the vaccine developed by experts at Oxford University - with human trials getting underway last month.
Another by Imperial College London is expected to be administered to volunteers this summer.
Meanwhile, around 100 further vaccines have been listed as being in pre-clinical stages - including the one by the Italian researchers.
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