Monday, the European Medicines Agency approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in the European Union.

Upon authorization, the European Commission is expected to finalize the decision within 48 hours, allowing for vaccine distribution across the region.

From that point on, each of the 27 European Union member states will be responsible for distributing the vaccine to its population according to priority and capability of each state.

Notably, Britain granted the vaccine emergency approval weeks ago and started its vaccination program with the US following close behind.