Development of Belarusian COVID-19 Vaccine to Take About 3 Years – Institute Director

Minsk, Dec 23 (Sputnik) – The development of a Belarusian vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will take about three years, Andrey Goncharov, director of the Institute of Biophysics and Cell Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, said.
“The development of a prototype [will] roughly [take] one and a half years. Preclinical trials – plus about six months. Next, clinical trials, again, how long they will take depends on many factors. It will take about three years to develop [the vaccine],” Goncharov said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel.
In mid-December, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the creation of the country’s own vaccine against coronavirus could cost Minsk about $2 million, adding that the funds would subsequently pay off.