P.E.I.'s Chief Public Health Office says the province expects to get its first shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine this week.

The province said it anticipates 1,200 doses of the vaccine — enough to vaccinate 600 Islanders with their first dose and the booster dose.

This first shipment is set to go to residents in both private and public long-term care facilities.

Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine — which has to be stored at at least -60 C — the Moderna vaccine can be stored at regular freezer temperatures making it easier to transport.

The province said it will be kept at the provincial pharmacy and administered by public health nursing in a similar fashion to how the influenza vaccine is administered in long-term care facilities.

The Moderna vaccine is still relatively new to the country and first arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Dec. 24, just over 24 hours after being approved by Health Canada.

That shipment contained just some of the 168,000 doses expected in the country by the end of the year.

It's been just over two weeks now since the first 1,950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine landed on P.E.I. Dec. 14.

The province said vaccination clinics are being held Tuesday and Wednesday for the remaining health-care workers awaiting a vaccine from that first shipment.

As for the second shipment of 1,950 doses that arrived on the Island last week, the province said those will be used to provide the booster dose and will be administered to the same 1,950 health-care workers in approximately three weeks.