diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 87a3988fe9..f92dec52c9 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ RUN cargo chef cook --release --no-default-features --features=syncstorage-db/$D
 
 FROM chef as builder
 ARG DATABASE_BACKEND=spanner
+ARG MYSQLCLIENTPKG=libmysqlclient-dev
 
 COPY . /app
 COPY --from=cacher /app/target /app/target
@@ -54,6 +55,8 @@ RUN \
     if [ "$DATABASE_BACKEND" = "spanner" ] ; then cargo install --path ./syncstorage-spanner --locked --root /app --bin purge_ttl ; fi
 
 FROM docker.io/library/debian:bullseye-slim
+ARG MYSQLCLIENTPKG=libmysqlclient-dev
+
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY --from=builder /app/requirements.txt /app
 # Due to a build error that occurs with the Python cryptography package, we