Deanna Fuller, a respiratory therapist at UPMC Chautauqua, was one of the first to get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday morning. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered this morning at UPMC Chautauqua in Jamestown.

Among those first to get the Moderna vaccine were Todd Williamson, health unit coordinator, and Deanna Fuller, a respiratory therapist.

“I’m just very excited,” Fuller said moments before she received her vaccination. “I think we should be proud of living in a community that has kept our overall numbers pretty low. You know, you see some people you think aren’t going to recover and they do and it’s like a miracle. But still, this has been a long haul. This is our hope, and help is on the way.”

The vaccines were administered at the Jamestown hospital by Rhonda LaMancuso, a registered nurse.

The hospital’s 900 doses were received Tuesday morning. UPMC officials said 300 of those doses will go to employees with the remaining 600 earmarked for other front line workers identified in Phase 1, including EMS personnel.

Each employee administered a shot was monitored for about 15 minutes afterward.

In Dunkirk, an emergency room nurse was the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Brooks-TLC Hospital last week.

New York expects to have received 930,000 coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of next week, a supply that should be used in an inoculation push at nursing homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.

Cuomo told reporters he’s asking health care providers to work through the holidays in hopes of vaccinating all nursing home residents and staffers. He said about 50,000 people have received doses so far.

“I understand it’s been a long year and everybody needs time off,” Cuomo said. “But we are in a foot race.”

He added, “A vaccine is the best gift you could give a nursing home resident.”