WAUSAU, Wis.—  It’s a day many have been awaiting for months: The availability of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A vaccine from Pfizer just received emergency approval which means vacations for high-risk groups could begin in the next few days. But getting a broad swath of the state vaccinated is going to take months.

“I tell people it’s a little like turning on a dripping faucet with how the vaccine is going to roll in,” said Dr. Rajiv Naik of Gundersen Health System in La Crosse. “At first it’s going to drip, drip, drip in, but we expect that to increase to a steady stream over the next several weeks to months. It will get much better.”

A vaccine from Moderna is expected to undergo a similar evaluation next week.

The initial doses of the vaccines are expected to go to those most at risk of contracting the illness, like people living in long-term care facilities and frontline health care workers.

“The numbers of doses in the state are going to be far short of the actual number of people who will need them in the first groups,” Naik said about the initial drip of the vaccine.

Just when the first people in Wisconsin will be vaccinated wasn’t clear as of Friday, but next week is looking likely.

“We have been notified we will be able to receive our vaccine in Michigan as early as next Tuesday,” said Dr. Susan Schneider with Aspirus in Wausau. “We have not yet heard definite dates for Wisconsin delivery, but we anticipate sometime next week.”

Despite how quickly the vaccine was developed, Dr. Erin Morcomb at the Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse says it’s safe.

“They are both mRNA vaccines,” she said. “Something really important to know, it does not contain any live virus. You cannot get COVID-19 from taking the vaccination. It basically instructs your body to make a protein that is part of COVID-19 so your body can make immunity against it.”

Morcomb said she’s also confident in the approval process.

 “Every safety measure has been taken,” she said. “The FDA, the public health professionals would not approve a vaccine if we did not think it was safe.”​