The UK is expected to authorise the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech this week.
Deliveries would begin within hours from the approval, with the first injections starting as early as December 7, the Financial Times reported.
Normally, the UK is subject to the decisions of the European Medicines Agency until Brexit takes place, however the country's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency can issue emergency approvals.
London has already booked 40mln doses of the jab, which was the first to announce the results of late-stage studies, with 95% efficacy proven.
Plumping the stock
On Sunday, the Department of Health and Social Care announced it has acquired another 2mln doses of the inoculation developed by Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), which also showed 95% efficacy in the final phase of clinical trials.
The UK now has secured 7mln doses of the vaccine, which is expected to be available in Europe in spring 2021, and now has a total of 357mln doses of vaccines from seven different developers.
They include 100mln of the Oxford jab produced by AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN), 60mln of the two jabs developed by Novavax, Valneva and Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LON:GSK) and 30mln for Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ).
Westminster also appointed Nadhim Zahawi, a junior minister for Business and Industry, as the person responsible for the rollout.