A passenger walks at Roma Termini Train Station in Rome, Italy, June 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

 
Phase one of the clinical trial of an Italian-developed GRAd-COV2 coronavirus vaccine kicked off on Monday with the inoculation of the first, officials and scientists said.

"Today, the Italian vaccine has begun human trials," Health Minister Roberto Speranza wrote on Facebook. "Our country's brainpower and research are at the service of the global challenge to defeat COVID."

The experimental, publicly financed vaccine has been developed by Italian biotech company ReiThera in collaboration with a team of scientists at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INMI) at Rome's Spallanzani Hospital.

The announcement coincided with a surge in new infections, caused in part by young people returning from summer holidays in other European countries.

The spike in cases prompted Speranza to shut down all night clubs and dancing events -- whether indoors or outdoors -- on Aug. 16, and to make the wearing of face masks mandatory between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. "in places where there is the risk of crowding."

A total of 757 new infections were reported on Monday, according to the Ministry of Health, compared to 935 new cases on Sunday and 825 new cases on Saturday.

There were 192 recoveries in the past 24 hours (against 267 on Sunday) and four deaths (against seven on Sunday).

Overall, Italy has registered 205,662 recoveries and 35,441 deaths, since late February, and the total number of confirmed cases -- including new infections, recoveries and fatalities -- now stands at 260,298.

AVAILABLE TO ALL

"The Italian (anti-COVID) vaccine will be public," INMI Spallanzani wrote on Facebook. "A common good that will be available to all who need it. The experimental process begins today ... in order to arrive at distribution as soon as possible."

In an Aug. 9 interview with public broadcaster RAI News 24, Dr. Andrea Antinori, who directs the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Department at INMI Spallanzani, explained that the Italian vaccine candidate is based on "genetic engineering techniques."

"It involves taking a virus that appears in gorillas, deactivating it so that it is harmless to humans, and inserting the gene for a protein that occurs on the surface of the new coronavirus," Antinori said.

"This protein is very important because it causes the human body to produce paralyzing antibodies," he said. "Inserting this genetically engineered virus with the protein into volunteers can spark an immune response to the coronavirus, making the volunteers immune."

Antinori said that phase one of the clinical trial will involve 90 healthy volunteers divided into two equal groups: one aged between 18 and 55 and the other between 65 and 85.

This phase will last into 2021. It entails assessing the safety of this vaccine, which has already been proven safe for animals, Antinori explained, adding that the call for phase one volunteers was met with "an enormous availability on the part of the population."