LONDON — The UK government says it will support a German biopharmaceutical company’s effort to develop vaccines to combat new variants of the coronavirus.

Tuebingen, Germany-based CureVac will produce the vaccines in the U.K. and supply the government with 50 million doses of the shots if they gain regulatory approval. It comes as public health officials around the world raise concerns about new virus variants that are possibly more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines. While viruses mutate constantly, most of the changes cause little concern. But scientists are closely tracking these mutations to make sure they quickly identify variants of concern.

Earlier this week, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said it would invest in CureVac for the development of new vaccines targeting emerging variants, using its messenger RNA technology to attack the disease. GSK said it plans to invest 150 million euros ($181 million) in the project.