FILE PHOTO: German Health Minister Jens Spahn speaks next to the head of the Robert Koch Institute for disease control Lothar H. Wieler (not pictured), during a news conference on the situation in Germany amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Berlin, Germany April 17, 2020. John MacDougall/Pool via REUTERS

BERLIN (Reuters) - Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday that it would take months to get any vaccine for coronavirus ready after Germany’s vaccines regulator approved live human testing of a potential vaccine against the Covid-19 virus.

“It’s a good sign that development in Germany has reached the point where we can begin initial clinical trials,” Spahn told reporters.

“At the same time it’s important to stress that it will take months for any vaccine to be fully tested and available even if we have now started the first clinical studies,” he said.