The UK has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for public use.
It is the first country to gives its nod to the mass use of the vaccine.
In November, Pfizer announced that it had developed a vaccine that could offer 95 percent protection against COVID-19.
MHRA, the British health regulator, said the vaccine is safe for public use.
The first 800,000 doses will be available in the UK from next week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
People should wait to be contacted by the NHS, he added.
The UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the free jab – enough to vaccinate 20 million people.
The doses will be rolled out as quickly as the company in Belgium can make it, Mr Hancock said, with the first load next week and then “several millions” throughout December.
But the bulk of the rollout will be next year, he added. “2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better,” said Mr Hancock.
