This morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that the Food and Drug Administration told Pfizer they plan to approve the vaccine. This could be a turning point in our fight against the coronavirus.

On Thursday, an FDA committee voted to approve the vaccine. That means Pfizer's vaccine is one very big step closer to being injected into the arms of Americans.

Once authorized, hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine could soon arrive here in the tri-state.

The arrival of the first vaccines is the beginning of a complex distribution plan coordinated by federal and local health authorities, as well as hospitals and pharmacy chains here in the area.

When will you be able to get your COVID-19 shot? And how much longer before this pandemic is really under control?

News 12's Elizabeth Hashagen was joined by Dr. Maria Carney this morning to answer all those questions. Dr. Carney is chief of geriatric and palliative medicine at Northwell Health and a professor at the Zucker School of Medicine. She's also the former Nassau County commissioner of health.

Once the vaccine is approved, 170,000 doses will be sent to New York. The state of New Jersey is expecting to receive around 76,000 doses, and Connecticut is expected to receive just over 31,000 doses.

How are these vaccines getting to our neighborhoods? Earlier this week Gov. Andrew Cuomo laid out the plan on how the shots will be distributed. The first vaccines could arrive as early as this weekend. CVS and Walgreens pharmacies will distribute the doses to nursing homes.

Gov. Cuomo says it will then be up to the hospitals to decide which employees get the shot. He says emergency room workers, ICU workers and pulmonary department workers should be at the top of the list.

Then it will be made available to long-term congregate care workers, staff and residents, EMS and other health care workers. After that, essential workers will get it, and finally the general population starting with those at high risk. The vaccine is only licensed for those 18 and older.

Next Thursday, Moderna's vaccine will be under the microscope. It will go through the same approval process as Pfizer. As we have reported, Moderna's vaccine uses similar technology and has also shown promising results in clinical trials.

Moderna has started its trial of the COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents. The company says it intends to enroll 3,000 American teens. The study is being conducted in collaboration with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. They will evaluate the safety and efficacy of administering two vaccine doses 28 days apart to children ages 12 to 17.