CHARLESTON, Ill. (WAND) - Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospital has received a shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Coles County health officials announced. 

Frontline health care workers at the Mattoon hospital started receiving COVID-19 vaccinations Wednesday. WAND News provided live coverage as it happened on Facebook. 

The Coles County Health Department brought the vaccine shipment back from Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, which is the Region 6 hub for vaccines. They worked with the Coles County Sheriff's Office to secure the vaccine and deliver it to the hospital's main campus. 

Coles County is one of the 50 Illinois counties with the highest deaths per capita during the pandemic, making it eligible to be one of the first in Illinois to receive the vaccine.  The county had 66 COVID-19 deaths as of Tuesday. 

Vaccine recipients are limited to front-line health care workers in mid-December. When priority populations are immunized, vaccines will be made available to the public at some point in 2021. 

The county is continuing to promote social distancing, wearing masks in public, washing hands frequently and avoiding large gatherings. 

"CCHD will post any public immunization dates on our Facebook and website, as well as the newly acquired CodeRED, a public notification system," a press release said. "We encourage all residents to enroll on CodeRED for the latest information regarding COVID-19, and other important news of relevance to the county. To enroll, text the keyword 'ColesAlerts' to 99411 and follow the directions."