New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said today that the state could receive its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines in late December. 

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Friday morning that it is applying to the FDA for emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine which recently completed its Phase III trial and showed to be effective 95% of the time, including in older adults. The FDA is expected to take at least a week or two to give official authorization.

Murphy said that an initial batch of about 130,000 vaccines to arrive on or around December 25th, at which point it would be distributed to pharmacies across the state.

Vaccinations will not initially begin as first come first serve. Not all New Jersey residents will be eligible to immediately receive the vaccine, with the first batch reserved for health care workers, despite a recent poll showing that only about 40% of New Jersey nurses say they will receive the vaccine. After that, the vaccine will likely be made available to high-risk New Jerseyans, including the elderly and high-risk populations.