Hancock County health officials anticipate the county receiving its initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on or around Tuesday, December 22nd.

Healthcare workers and emergency medical staff will be the first to be inoculated.

Health Commissioner Karim Baroudi tells WFIN he believes the vaccine will be available to the general public in early March.

Baroudi says the vaccine went through all the steps that are required to ensure that it’s safe and effective.

He says the county would need 60 to 70 percent of the population to get the vaccine to reach herd immunity to where things could start going back to normal.

Karim was on with WFIN’s Chris Oaks.

Listen to that full interview by clicking here.