Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were prepared to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant yesterday in Portage, Michigan.
Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were prepared to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant yesterday in Portage, Michigan. morry gash / Getty images

The first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines arrived at Oregon medical centers at 7 am Monday.

Two Legacy Health sites—one in Northeast Portland and one in Tualatin—each received 975 first doses of the vaccine Monday. Other facilities, including Oregon Health & Science University and Kaiser Permanente's Airport Way Center in Portland, are expected to receive more doses on Tuesday, and the vaccine will continue to be distributed to other hospitals and medical center throughout the week.

A press release from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) did not immediately make clear when vaccinations will actually begin, though the Oregonian is reporting that they may start as soon as Wednesday.

"Each day, more and more Oregonians will be vaccinated against the disease," Gov. Kate Brown said in a video released Monday. "We are certainly in the middle of some of the hardest days of this pandemic...but starting this week, and each week following, as vaccines become more widely available, we will begin gaining ground in our fight against this disease."

OHA officials expect to receive a total of 140,000 first vaccine doses this month (including both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines), and project that 100,000 Oregonians will have received the first of two vaccine doses before the end of the month. Hospital staff and employees and residents at longterm care facilities will be top priority, followed by essential workers and elderly people. Vaccines will likely be available for the general public by summer of 2021.

Oregon joins a host of other US states in receiving its initial vaccine doses today, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency approval for the Pfizer vaccine late Friday. The FDA is expected to approve the Moderna vaccine soon as well.

OHA officials say that about three-quarters of Oregonians will need to have been vaccinated before the state reaches herd immunity—and that could take until fall of 2021. In the meantime, county-specific lockdowns remain in place across Oregon, and the state is urging people to continue taking health precautions.

"There is some light at the end of the tunnel," Brown said in Monday's video. "So please, stay safe out there."