The first COVID-19 vaccinations in Ohio were administered to health care workers Monday, according to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

DeWine showed footage of health care workers receiving vaccines at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus and UC Health in Cincinnati during Monday’s coronavirus briefing, the beginning of a process that will last months, at least, DeWine said.

The hospitals received 975 doses to administer.

Medical facilities slated to receive doses today are Mercy Health St. Vincent Hospital, Lucas County; Cleveland Clinic, Cuyahoga County; Metro Health Medical Center, Cuyahoga County; Mercy Health Springfield Regional Medical Center, Clark County; OhioHealth Riverside Hospital, Franklin County; Aultman Hospital, Stark County; OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital, Athens County; and Genesis Hospital, Muskingum County.

The hospitals were selected based on geography, population and access to ultra-cold storage capacity, according to DeWine’s office.

Ohio will begin providing vaccinations in five to 10 nursing homes starting this Friday, DeWine said.

As more doses of the vaccine come in, more providers will receive doses to administer to their health care workers. It is unclear when doses will begin to reach the Mahoning Valley, but more hospitals in Ohio are expected to get vaccine doses in the coming weeks.

“We don’t know in the months ahead how fast (the vaccine) is going to come to Ohio,” DeWine said, because there may be more approved vaccines and the speed of manufacturing is unknown. “It is going to take a while for us to even get close to the herd immunity that people are talking about.”

The vaccine distributed Monday was the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine is expected to be released after approval next week.

“It went incredibly well today,” said Dr. Andy Thomas, OSU Wexner Medical Center’s chief medical officer.

Thirty people were vaccinated at the medical center Monday, Thomas said. Monday was a “dry run” and today will be the first full day of vaccinations at the Wexner Medical Center.

Dr. Mercy Dickson, an emergency room resident with the Wexner Medical Center, said the shot was “painless.”

Dickson was among one of the first to receive the vaccine, as an emergency room doctor, she often encounters COVID-19 patients as they seek treatment in the emergency room.

Respiratory therapists also are among the first groups to receive the vaccine, as they treat COVID-19 patients, too.

“It was such a moment of hope to watch the health care workers begin to get vaccinated today,” DeWine said. “Today is the first day of a process that will continue over the months ahead as Ohioans who choose to be vaccinated have their opportunity to receive the vaccine. However, until the vaccine is widely available for all Ohioans who choose to receive it, we must continue to use all available tools to prevent the spread of the virus, like wearing a mask, keeping your distance, and washing your hands.”

A vaccine dashboard will be available in the next few days to track how many people in Ohio have been vaccinated, DeWine said.

New cases reported Monday were under the 21-day average and could signal a plateau, but it is hard to tell because numbers released Monday are sometimes lower than average because of the weekend, DeWine said. There were 7,875 new cases reported Monday, the 21-day average is 9,871 new cases per day. Deaths increased by 59 on Monday, under the 21-day average of 73 daily deaths. New hospitalizations also were lower than the 21-day average, 291 new hospitalizations were reported Monday; the daily average is 360 per day.

There were 67 positive cases of people identified with the COVID-19 virus as Youngstown State University during the week ending Dec. 5, according to the university.

The majority of the identified cases, 58, involved students. There were nine cases involving the university’s faculty and staff.

Six of the students live on campus.

The 67 cases represents the highest number identified over the last five weeks. Prior to Monday’s announcement, the highest number of cases over the five-week period was during the week of Nov. 14, which had 60 total newly identified COVID-19 during a one week period.

The university’s COVID-19 dashboard is updated every Monday, based on information received the previous Friday.