The UK Government has pledged £20 million ($26 million) to develop new vaccines for coronavirus and other infectious diseases, the UK Department of Health and Social Care announced Monday.

It will help our globally recognised vaccine development capabilities continue to develop new defences against emerging diseases including coronavirus,” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement.

The new funding will go to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which was originally formed in response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. It will help with three new programs to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, the statement said.

Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI said he hoped that an investigational vaccine could be through to clinical testing in 16 weeks