Business secretary Alok Sharma has announced ambitious plans should the UK's coronavirus vaccine trials be successful.
At present Oxford University and Imperial College London are both in the process of developing a vaccine.
Speaking at Sunday's Downing Street press conference, he revealed a a further £84 million in new funding “to help accelerate their work”.
He said: “This new money will help mass-produce the Oxford vaccine so that if current trials are successful we have dosages to start vaccinating the UK population straight away.”
Under a new licensing partnership with pharmaceutical firm Astra Zeneca, Mr Sharma promised 30 million vaccines for the UK by September.
This is part of a larger agreement for over 100 million doses in total.
He confirmed that “the UK will be first to get access” but also that the Government would ensure to make the vaccine available to developing countries "at the lowest possible cost”.
The first clinical trial of the Oxford vaccine is already underway, while the Imperial College will be looking to move into clinical trials next month.
Mr Sharma said both trials are world leaders in vaccines against the disease.
He said: “In order to definitively conquer this disease we need to find a safe, workable vaccine.
“Last month I announced a new vaccine task force to co-ordinate the efforts of Government, academia and industry in the critical mission to find a vaccine.
“I'm very proud of how quickly our scientists and researchers have come together in their efforts developing a vaccine that will combat coronavirus.”
"The speed at which Oxford University has designed and organised these complex trials is genuinely unprecedented.”
It would be a major achievement to create a working vaccine in such a short period of time, with experts saying it would take at least a 12 months to develop.
Mr Sharma said the Government has now committed more than a quarter of a billion pounds towards developing a vaccine in the UK.
But he warned that it is possible a successful vaccine may never be found, and alternative treatments need to be looked into.
He added that six drugs have entered initial live trials, with plan to move to larger trials should positive results be seen.
