Clinical trials and production of the COVID-19 vaccine will be funded by the state, Health Minister of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

"The preclinical phase of vaccine trials lasted six months. During it, it turned out that the candidate for the vaccine has good prospects, the virus is being neutralized. The candidate was developed by the consortium of companies DiaPrep, plus Ukrainian scientists and academics who work, among other things, at the Institute of Microbiology of the National Academy of Sciences. Due to the fact that we have completed the preclinical phase, we need to start the clinical phase. It will take place with the full support of the state in terms of financing the processes," he said, adding that it will cost about UAH 100-150 million.

In turn, one of the developers - president of DiaPrep System Incorporated Mykhailo Favorov noted that Ukraine could receive a finished vaccine in nine months or a year.

"This is a long process, it includes three phases of testing, many complex processes, but it is already clear that over time we will be able to get a drug that will protect against COVID-19. We can get a vaccine in nine months or a year," he said.

Favorov added that preclinical studies were carried out in laboratory centers in Turkey, America and France and proved to neutralize the virus.