LONDON — The British government has appointed a vaccines minister as it prepares to inoculate millions of people against the coronavirus, potentially starting within days.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson views a PCR diagnostics machine with biomedical scientist Jodie Owen, left, in a laboratory during a visit to the Public Health England site at Porton Down science park near Salisbury, southern England, on Friday Nov. 27, 2020. (Adrian Dennis/Pool via AP)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Conservative lawmaker Nadhim Zahawi will oversee the country’s biggest vaccine program in decades.

The U.K. medicines regulator is currently assessing two vaccines — one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, the other by Oxford University and AstraZeneca — to see if they are safe and effective. The Guardian newspaper reported that hospitals have been told they could receive the first doses of the Pfizer shot the week of Dec. 7 if it receives approval.

The U.K. says frontline health care workers and nursing home residents will be the first to be vaccinated, followed by older people, starting with those over 80.

Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine — enough for 20 million people — and 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.