At long last, the COVID-19 vaccine is beginning to be distributed in the United States nine months after the World Health Organization declared the infectious disease a global pandemic.

Riverside Health System received 2,925 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday morning, according to Riverside Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer Cindy Williams. These are the first of the two-dose series.

As part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Virginia Department of Health guidelines, these first allocations will go to Riverside health care workers who deal directly with COVID-19 patient care and who are at high-risk for contracting the virus. Riverside will begin to vaccinate its frontline health care workers later this week and will continue vaccinations throughout the next few weeks.

Williams said that the second doses are anticipated to arrive at Riverside in three weeks. The Pfizer vaccine has a 95 percent efficacy rate after the second dose. Second doses should...