The EU is to start COVID-19 inoculations on December 27, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.

"It's Europe's moment. On 27, 28 and 29 December, vaccination will start across the EU," she tweeted.

Earlier, German Health Minister Jens Spahn also revealed the plan.

"In Germany we will start, if the approval comes as planned, on December 27. The other countries in the EU want to be able to start and want to start from December 27," he said ahead of a meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and executives of the vaccine maker BioNTech.

EU has already inked purchase agreements with several vaccine companies, including Moderna.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the EU said the commission had concluded preliminary talks with U.S. firm Novavax to secure up to 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

EU's drug regulator is set to approve its first COVID-19 vaccine, the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, On December 21.

(With input from agencies)