The UK government has announced that it plans to work with a German biopharmaceutical company to develop vaccines targeting emerging variants of Covid-19 as public health officials call for new tools to keep the virus in check as it mutates, AP reports.

As part of the deal, Tuebingen, Germany-based CureVac said it would supply the UK with 50 million doses of the vaccines if they are approved by regulators and it would manufacture the shots in Britain.

CureVac said its collaboration with the British government will help the company quickly identify new variants and design vaccines to combat them. “The UK government and it’s Vaccines Taskforce has been at the forefront of surveillance, vaccine development and delivery of vaccines for deployment during this pandemic,” said Dr Antony Blanc, CureVac’s chief commercial officer.