A Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca has been approved for use in the UK, paving the way for rapid rollout, the Department of Health said.
Rollout of the jab will start in January 4 next year as the news was hailed as "fantastic" by UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the United Kingdom have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and that is set to continue.
The Oxford jab is the second one to be approved in the UK.
So far the government has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine which is enough to vaccinate 50 million people.
Hancock said the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine means there is now a "route out" of the coronavirus pandemic.
He told Sky News: "I am now, with this approval this morning, highly confident that we can get enough vulnerable people vaccinated by the spring that we can now see the route out of this pandemic.
"It is going to be a difficult few weeks ahead.
"We can see the pressures right now on the NHS and it is absolutely critical that people follow the rules and do everything they can to stop the spread, particularly of the new variant of this virus that transmits so much faster.
"But we also know that there is a route out of this. The vaccine provides that route out. We have all just got to hold our nerve over the weeks to come."
A statement from the UK Department of Health, said: "The Government has today accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use.
"This follows rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will also publish its latest advice for the priority groups to receive this vaccine.
The NHS has a clear vaccine delivery plan and decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes.
"It has already vaccinated hundreds of thousands of patients with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and its roll out will continue.
"Now the NHS will begin putting their extensive preparations into action to roll out the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine."
