The European Union has given official approval for the coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer to be put on to the market across the 27-nation bloc.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the commission “took the decision to make available for European citizens the first Covid-19 vaccine. We granted conditional market authorisation”.

The commission, the EU’s executive arm, gave the green light just hours after the European Medicines Agency said the shot meets safety and quality standards.

Brussels had been expected to require two or three days to endorse the market authorisation move.

Deliveries of the vaccine had been pencilled in to start this Saturday, with inoculations beginning across the EU between December 27-29.