The United States could start injecting the first Americans with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine by Monday, the country's health secretary said.

Alex Azar told news channels that final details were being ironed out, after an expert committee convened by regulators voted to grant the two-dose regimen emergency approval for people aged 16 and over.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement saying it had told Pfizer it would now “rapidly work toward finalisation and issuance of an emergency use authorisation", according to AFP.

Azar told ABC News that authorities were working with Pfizer on logistics and “we could be seeing people get vaccinated Monday, Tuesday of next week”.

“So, it's very close. It's really just the last dotting of I's and crossing of T's,” he added. Those outstanding matters include getting a fact sheet ready for doctors, Azar told Fox Business.