Britain has agreed to buy 35 million more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, to be delivered from the second half of next year, as part of its preparations for booster shots and any new variants that could emerge.

“While we continue to build this wall of defense from COVID-19, it’s also vital we do everything we can to protect the country for the future too – whether that’s from the virus as we know it or new variants,” health minister Sajid Javid said.