In the past few days and weeks, there has been much discussion about when and how a Covid-19 vaccine could be rolled out across the UK.

Business minister Nadhim Zahawi will be responsible for the deployment of coronavirus vaccines after being appointed as health minister by the Prime Minister.

There are also reports of hospitals receiving the first deliveries of a vaccine as early as December 7.

To understand where we're at with the different vaccines that could become available, here's a summary of the latest news.

Moderna

Trials suggest Moderna's vaccine is 95% effective in preventing people getting ill and may work across all age groups, including the elderly.

The vaccine is yet to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), but doses could begin being delivered next spring if it meets the standards.

The government has now ordered an extra two million doses, bringing the total number of jabs on order from the US firm to seven million.

Pfizer 

According to The Guardian, hospitals could receive the first deliveries of the vaccine created by Pfizer/BioNTech between December 7 and December 9.

This vaccine, which reported early results suggesting the jab is 95% effective, needs to be stored at extremely low temperatures.

The PA news agency understands no date has been confirmed by NHS England for the rollout of the jab as there are still several steps to go through – including MHRA approval.

However, it is also understood that 10 days would be a reasonable time frame should the vaccine be approved soon.

The UK has placed orders for 40 million doses.

Oxford/AstraZeneca

Data from two arms of its phase-three trial, announced last week, gave a combined efficacy of 70%.

A half dose followed by a full dose was found to be 90% effective in protecting against Covid-19, according to a subset of data, but the figure was 62% for people given two full doses.

The 90% finding was based on a dosing regimen given to 2,741 people, while the two dose arm of the trial involved 8,895 people.

AstraZeneca has said it will carry out a further global clinical trial to assess the 90% dosing regimen, which it acknowledged was as a result of a dosing error.

The UK has ordered 100 million doses - enough to vaccinate most of the population.