The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for inoculations in America where over 200-thousand new cases are reported each day.

This comes one day after medical experts advising that the FDA recommended the emergency-use approval as the 23-member panel concluded the vaccine's benefits outweighed its risks.

Actual vaccinations will take place after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issues a recommendation, expected Sunday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters earlier Friday that his department would work with Pfizer to get the vaccines shipped out and the mass vaccination program started by Monday or Tuesday. 

The Pfizer vaccine must be stored and distributed at a temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

Airlines transporting the vaccine have installed systems to maintain the chilled temperature while delivery companies have also secured refrigeration facilities.

Retail giant Walmart, through a deal with state governments, is preparing to store vaccines and provide inoculation facilities at five thousand of its stores.

The Pfizer vaccine has received regulatory approval for emergency use also in the UK, Canada, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.