The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 is seen at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, Idaho on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

The highly anticipated vaccine to combat COVID-19 could arrive in Chautauqua County by the end of the week.

UPMC Chautauqua in Jamestown is scheduled to receive 900 doses of the Moderna-manufactured vaccine, said Karen Beardsley, UPMC spokeswoman. She said shipments are contingent upon the issuance of an emergency use authorization; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee is set to meet Thursday, with authorization expected to be issued to Moderna shortly after the meeting.

The FDA last week issued a similar authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for distribution in the U.S.

Beardsley said the vaccine will be available to health care workers at the Foote Avenue hospital, noting that it will not be mandatory for employees. It’s not known who would be in line to receive the vaccine after UPMC employees.

Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk also is awaiting word on its distribution of the vaccine. “We are awaiting final notice of vaccine arrival at the hospital and our plans for administering to staff is in place following the guidelines and priorities of administration,” said Mary E. LaRowe, president and chief executive officer at the Brooks-TLC Hospital System.

On Monday, five UPMC employees — two nurses, a doctor, a transportation worker and a supervisor for environmental services — received doses of the vaccine in Pennsylvania. They were administered by Tami Minnier, UPMC chief quality officer.

The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine reached UPMC’s childrens hospital in Pittsburgh on Monday morning from the company’s Portage, Mich., facility.

In New York, a critical care nurse who has treated COVID-19 patients in hard-hit New York City became the first person in the state to receive the vaccine Monday. Onlookers applauded after a doctor gave registered nurse Sandra Lindsay the injection at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens.

“I feel hopeful today. Relieved,” Lindsay said after the injection, which was livestreamed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. “I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.”

Cuomo, who watched remotely, called it the first shot given in the state’s effort vaccination effort. Health care workers at other facilities in the city and beyond were also getting the shots Monday.

“This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” Cuomo said. “But it’s a long tunnel.”

Hospital workers nationwide begin unloading frozen vials of COVID-19 vaccine Monday.

Dr. Dave Chokshi, New York City’s health commissioner, said they did not know their overall allotment of vaccines in the coming months, but had been told to plan for 465,000 doses over the first three weeks. Health care workers who work on the same unit will be vaccinated on a staggered schedule to account for possible side effects, he said.

John D’Agostino and the Associated Press contributed to this story.