Explainer: How will the UK's new COVID-19 vaccine be rolled out?

Now in a major breakthrough, the UK's medical regulator has approved the use of a coronavirus vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech. The vaccine will be rolled out to the British public as early as next week, although it won't be a straightforward process.

The UK is the first western country to approve a vaccine for use on the general public. But not everyone will be vaccinated at once.

News of the vaccine roll out can't come soon enough, with the latest daily COVID-19 figures in the UK showing 648 deaths and more than 16,000 new infections.

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with the first 800,000 doses to arrive in coming days.

However, it won't be a case of first in, first jabbed, with the British government instituting a priority list for the roll out.

First in line to get the vaccination will be residents in aged-care facilities along with their carers, followed by those over 80 and frontline health and social care workers.

They will then be followed by people over 75, over 70s and vulnerable individuals, those over 65, people between 16 and 64 with underlying health conditions, before those over 60, those over 55 and people over 50.

Following on from the first nine priority groups for vaccinations, a second phase of vaccinations will be made available to younger groups of people at a time yet to be determined. People will be vaccinated for free in Britain as part of the country's National Health Service.

Unfortunately, the vaccine won't be as simple as just one jab and people are fully immunised.

People will require two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, scheduled 21 days apart. While immunity will begin following the first dose, it will reach its full level seven days after the second dose.

During its clinical trials, Pfizer said the vaccine had a 95 per cent success.

Of the 43,000 people involved in the trials, 170 people had contracted COVID-19, but 162 in the trial had been given a placebo.

However, the new vaccine must be stored at minus-70 degrees, so it will need to be transported in boxes packed with dry ice.

After that, it can be stored in a fridge for five days and must be used within six hours once out of the fridge.

Due to the scale of the pandemic, medical companies and researchers around the world have been racing to create their own vaccine for COVID-19.

Just because the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for UK use does not mean it would be the only one distributed in that country.

The UK, along with countries such as Australia, have signed on to receive multiple vaccines from different manufacturers once they are approved. One vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company Moderna has shown a 95 per cent effectiveness rate in its late-stage clinical trials. The US Food and Drug Administration is set to meet later in December to review data from the trial before an approval.

Moderna has said it would be able to distribute 20 million doses of its vaccine before the end of the year, should it be given the green light. Meanwhile, a vaccine developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has been shown to have a 70 per cent success rate.

The federal government has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to distribute among the population.

However, just because the UK has approved its use does not mean those in Australia will get vaccinated at the same time. The Therapeutic Goods Administration is set to make a decision on vaccine approvals by the end of January.

If the Pfizer vaccine gets the go-ahead from the administration, early vaccines could be made available from later in January before a wider roll out for health care workers and aged-care residents in March.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has welcomed news of the UK's vaccine approval and said the government would be watching Britain's vaccine roll out closely.

"We are moving quickly but safely and we are making sure there are no compromises because the safety of Australians is the number one priority," Mr Hunt said.

"The work done in the UK will give Australia and the world very important data, very important lessons, both on the roll out and the efficacy of this particular vaccine."

Australia has signed up to receive up to 134 million doses coming from four vaccines that are in development, should they be approved. Along with the Pfizer vaccine, Australians are on track to receive doses from AstraZeneca, Nova and an Australian-produced vaccine made between CS and the University of Queensland.

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, associate professor John Skerritt, said the administration was waiting for the final set of data from trials before a decision on approval can be made.

"There is no regulatory process or law in Australia for an emergency use authorisations similar to the UK or the US, as the Prime Minister has indicated, Australia's situation, thanks to the efforts of everyday Australians and governments, is very different from the UK," he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the vaccine would not be made mandatory and would not be linked to the current 'no jab, no play' policies.