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DENVER (KDVR) — The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has landed, but it will be awhile yet before the supply can immunize enough critical workers to pass down the line to garden variety Coloradans. At least 1 million vaccines will need to be distributed to critical populations before general distribution is available.

Colorado’s initial order for 46,800 Pfizer vaccines began arriving Monday, and an order for 95,600 Moderna vaccines has also been placed and could begin arriving next week. This may signal the beginning of the pandemic’s end, however there are many months of continued restrictions and social distancing.

The state health department has a three-phase for the vaccine.

Phase 1 distributes to health care workers with high COVID-19 exposure and the residents of long-term care and assisted living facilities, then less less exposed healthcare workers, police and paramedics. Phase 2 will aim for Coloradans over 65 years old and those with jobs that interact heavily with the public, such as schoolteachers. Phase 3, which isn’t expected until summer, will inoculate those aged 18-64.

State officials admit they don’t have detailed counts on how many people are in each category. Furthermore, the future vaccines supply won’t be known until the future arrives. For now, officials can only guess.

Public data, however, should give at least some clues as to how many vaccinations must take place before the state can begin the Phase 3 round that will usher in some return to normalcy.

The real hump will involve residents over 65 years old, phase two of the state’s plan.

Most recent census data counts roughly 841,000 persons over 65 years old in Colorado, just under 15% of the state’s population. Colorado will need significant time to address this group alone.

Even before this, healthcare workers must vaccinate their own considerable ranks. Statewide, there are at least 300,000 employees in the state’s healthcare system.

Not all of those, however, are direct healthcare providers. As many as half are various administrative and support positions which may not qualify as high-risk employment.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 95,360 hospital employees in Colorado. A little more than half of these – 55,450 – are healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, including 31,020 registered nurses and over a thousand physicians and nurse practitioners.

There are 43,440 occupations in the nursing and residential care facilities according to census data, and over 16,000 certified nursing home residents in Colorado, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.

This does not include the numbers from similar facilities – 20,330 occupations in skilled nursing facilities and 17,030 in continuing care treatment communities and assisted living facilities for the elderly, not including staff.

First responders will also require tens of thousands of vaccines. The state has 5,630 firefighters, 9,790 police and sheriffs’ patrol officers, and thousands of paramedics.

While there is good news in Colorado’s hospitalization and cases numbers and vaccine plan, Coloradans will need to embrace one final push of pandemic restrictions while vaccines go to those at greatest risk.