US regulators have authorised the first coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, marking an inflection point in the pandemic and kicking off what's set to be the largest vaccination campaign in US history.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) OK'd a highly effective COVID-19 vaccine developed by the drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech, FDA said Friday in a letter on its website. The decision follows an endorsement from an independent expert panel that reviewed data on the shot.

The leaders of Operation Warp Speed, the federal government's vaccine initiative, have said the plan is to ship 2.9 million doses of Pfizer's shot within days, starting an ambitious vaccination drive.

The US is aiming to vaccinate 100 million people by March: 20 million in December, 30 million in January, and 50 million more in February. Those projections depend on getting vaccines from Pfizer and from Moderna, a biotech company that also has a highly effective shot under FDA review. The shots will be free for people.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn called the authorization "a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic."

"The tireless work to develop a new vaccine to prevent this novel, serious, and life-threatening disease in an expedited timeframe after its emergence is a true testament to scientific innovation and public-private collaboration worldwide," Hahn said in a statement.

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