The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has accepted the recommendation of the Commission on Human Medicines and authorised the Moderna vaccine, joining jabs made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
The UK has ordered an additional 10 million doses of the vaccine, taking its total to 17 million.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is further great news and another weapon in our arsenal to tame this awful disease.
“We have already vaccinated nearly 1.5 million people across the UK and Moderna’s vaccine will allow us to accelerate our vaccination programme even further once doses become available from the spring.
“While we immunise those most at risk from Covid, I urge everyone to continue following the rules to keep cases low to protect our loved ones.”
