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SAVANNAH — Georgia should start distributing thousands of doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of next week, though most people will have to wait several months before they can get a shot, Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday.

The Republican governor praised the vaccines as "a miracle of modern science that will save countless lives" in a state where COVID-19 has killed more than 9,000 people, including 199 in Hall County, according to the Department of Public Health. Kemp also warned infections and hospitalizations are soaring in Georgia and the virus will remain a serious threat well into 2021. 

The first doses, expected within the next 10 days, will be used to vaccinate Georgia health care workers and nursing home residents and employees. 

Northeast Georgia Health System has about 9,000 employees, and about half of those may be considered frontline workers that could receive the vaccine, spokesman Sean Couch told The Times Tuesday. Couch said the system had few details about what to expect on vaccine distribution but was planning for various scenarios.

"The general public will be not able to be vaccinated for months," Kemp said in a news conference streamed online from the state Capitol in Atlanta. "We must all continue to still wear our masks. We must still wash our hands. We must continue more than ever to watch our distance."

The  Federal Food and Drug Administration could be days away from approving emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer. A second vaccine by Moderna is up for a decision by regulators later this month. 

Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said Georgia should receive "several hundred thousand doses" in the coming weeks.

"We hope by certainly early January we would have all health care workers covered," Toomey said.

Vaccinating 10 million Georgia residents will likely take until summer, Toomey said. She and the governor both plan to work to persuade people that the coronavirus shots are safe.

"I can say with great enthusiasm: I can't wait to get vaccinated," Toomey told reporters. 

Until then, state officials are pleading with people not to relax their guard. The number of daily confirmed and suspected coronavirus infections in Georgia soared more than 70% in the past week, and hospitals are sounding alarms about their ability to absorb new COVID-19 patients.

Couch said Northeast Georgia Medical Center must sometimes transfer patients to its other facilities to make room for more critical patients at the Gainesville hospital, which was treating 116 COVID positive patients on Tuesday. The system as of Monday had 716 total staffed beds, with 690 of those being occupied, including 186 COVID positive patients and another 49 awaiting test results. In total, the Gainesville facility had 466 occupied beds and five available, and another 99 occupied ICU beds with just one available on Tuesday. 

Kemp noted per capita infections in Georgia have been lower than in most other states, and he said hospitals have better treatments and therapeutics for coronavirus patients than they had months ago. 

However, Kemp said, "there's still enough signs out there that give me great concern."

"I fully realize and appreciate how how tired everyone is," the governor said. "Everyone wants to go back to the normal Georgia... But it is my belief we have lost too many loved ones, too many friends and neighbors, to give in to this virus."

The Times’ Shannon Casas contributed to this report.