1st Coronavirus Vaccination Shipment Arrives In Denver: WATCH

DENVER, CO — The COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Colorado.

Gov. Jared Polis was at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's state lab to monitor the first vaccines that were delivered.

"This is the lifesaving vaccine that is about to arrive, and we are just so excited to be giving it to some of the people who actually work in COVID wards," the governor said in a video posted on social media Monday morning.

"This is also a triumph of modern science. When you think about how long it took to get prior vaccines, like polio and others to market, it took years, even decades some of them. This one was done in record time."

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The state ordered 46,800 doses in the Pfizer shipment and 95,600 doses in the first Moderna shipment, but it's unclear when all initial doses will arrive.

Most hospitals will receive only a few hundred doses each in the initial round, but some will receive more than 1,000, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Polis issued a letter Sunday to Colorado hospitals that urged them to begin the vaccinations within 72 hours of receipt.

Colorado is preparing to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine in three phases over the next nine months.

High-risk health care workers — those who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients for 15 minutes or more — will be the first to receive the vaccine.