His comments were later republished in a ministry's statement on the same day.

"This potential vaccine stems from studies of the Oxford University, and it will involve relevant Italian entities in the phases of development and production," Speranza explained.

The minister added the commitment underneath the contract provided that the trial path, already in an advanced phase, would end in autumn, "with the distribution of the first tranche of doses by the end of the year."

In an interview to Rai 3 TV Agora broadcast on Monday, AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Wittum confirmed that clinical trials of the potential COVID-19 vaccine were going through the last phase.

"As long as we will not have the results of tests on human beings, which will occur in September, we will not be able to state this vaccine is effective," Wittum specified.

Yet, he added, they were "confident it would work ... All went well in the first phases (of the trial), and now we are testing it on some thousand volunteers to verify it effectively protects from the contagion."

As for the economic availability of the drug, once ready, the AstraZeneca CEO explained, the company has committed to producing some 2 billion doses with the aim of ensuring a "broad, fair, and uNPRofitable access during the pandemic."

"The costs for distributing the vaccine will be of few euros," he said.

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