Development of a potential vaccination for coronavirus has taken a huge leap forward after Germany-based BioNTech and its American partner Pfizer on Monday published the results of their first large-scale trials, which are still ongoing.

A senior official of the World Health Organization (WHO), Bruce Aylward, told the organisation’s annual ministerial assembly that interim results from the late-stage vaccine trial were “very positive”.

“There is still much work to be done, this is just interim results...but some very positive results coming today which should hold great promise hopefully for the entire world as we move forward,” Aylward told the 194-member state forum.

“By March as a result of the extraordinary work happening globally we could be in a position to fundamentally change the direction and the dynamic of this crisis.”

Pfizer said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective, raising hope as the pandemic accelerates with more than 50 million cases and 1.2 million deaths.

The firms said there have been no serious side-effects.

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza welcomed the announcement, but stressed that the Italian public must continue to follow rules set to prevent contagion. 

“Today’s news about the COVID vaccine is encouraging,” Speranza tweeted.

“But a great deal of prudence is still needed.

“Scientific research is the true key to overcoming the emergency.

“In the meantime we must never forget that the behaviour of each one of us is indispensable in bringing down the [contagion] curve.”

Meanwhile, Italian researchers are set to begin the third round of clinical trials of a vaccine in December.

Volunteers in Italy could receive the first doses in December, as scientists begin the next phase of trials of a potential vaccine developed by Oxford University and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical group, and partly manufactured and bottled by two Italian companies near Rome.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, one of several in development around the world, is among the most advanced, with a large-scale trial already underway on as many as 10,000 people in the UK.

Phase 3 trials are the final tests before regulators decide whether to approve a drug. 

The head of Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS), Walter Locatelli, has said the first doses could be available in spring 2021.

The new trial is separate from an early-stage trial underway in Rome, where researchers at the Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases are testing a different vaccine developed by Italian biotech company ReiThera on a much smaller sample of volunteers.

It comes as the European continent endures a second wave of coronavirus infections, with the numbers of confirmed infections spiking in certain countries while lockdown measures are starting to show an effect in others.

On Monday, Italy registered 25,271 new infections after 32,616 the day before, mainly due to a customary fall in daily tests on Sundays.

COVID-related deaths were 356, the health ministry said.

The steady surge in hospitalisations is straining the country’s health system, and doctors warn that Italy could suffer some 10,000 fatalities in the next month on current trends.