ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp said an initial shipment of COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed across Georgia as early as next week.

The news came Tuesday as cases across the state and the country have surged, with hospitals voicing concerns of dwindling bed capacity.

But the average Georgian should not expect to be vaccinated anytime soon as health care workers and nursing home residents will be the first to be vaccinated.

“Our first shipments will not be anywhere close enough for anyone in our state to stop following the same public health guidance that we’ve had in place for many months,” Kemp warned. “The limited amount of vaccine doses we will receive in the coming days will be going to the most vulnerable and those on the frontlines of fighting COVID-19 — that means residents of nursing homes and our health care workers. The general public will not be able to be vaccinated for months.”

The initial batch of vaccines will be so limited that not every front line worker or nursing home resident will be able to receive it in the first round either.

Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said the state is slated to get about several hundred thousand doses — a combination of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — in the first distribution. But numbers are expected to change as the federal government rolls out its distribution plans.

Doses will go immediately to health care providers working at both hospital and state health systems as well as nursing homes, depending on how many residents are infected within the facilities, Toomey said. The next round is slated for essential workers — such as individuals working in power facilities — as well as older residents with health conditions.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two separate doses about a month apart, meaning state officials face the challenge of getting individuals to come in twice.

“We want to be absolutely transparent about the fact that often that second dose — or even with the first dose — there may be some side effects of the vaccine that are short-lived and not a difficult thing to deal with,” Toomey said. “But it may discourage people from going back for the second dose.”

Side effects could include mild flu-like symptoms, fever or pain in the arm where the vaccine is administered, she said. But none of these symptoms are unexpected.

Even before health officials can start thinking about the second dose, Georgians must be willing to get the initial vaccination and many are weary of being vaccinated altogether.

During a roundtable with hospital administrators from across the state, Toomey voiced concerns that many health care workers have expressed reluctance to get the vaccine.

Both Kemp and Toomey reiterated they will happily take the shots to give Georgians confidence the vaccine is safe.

“I can say with great enthusiasm I can’t wait to be vaccinated,” Toomey said. “I’m so looking forward to that opportunity and I hope that we can convey that same desire to people throughout Georgia, because until we can vaccinate as many Georgians as possible, we will not have the level of immunity within the state as a whole, to prevent the continued spread.”

The several hundred thousands of doses coming to the state as early as next week will still not be enough to cover all health care workers and nursing home residents. Toomey said the department is working with hospitals and nursing home facilities to prioritize who will be vaccinated within medical settings themselves.

Rural and marginalized communities are often at the back of the line for statewide distributions, which was evident as the federal and state government struggled to dole out personal protective equipment and testing supplies throughout the pandemic.

State officials reassured the public Tuesday they are looking at vaccine distribution through a statewide lens.

“It isn’t exactly that we have a metro focus, we have a statewide focus with great advocates for rural areas and will ensure that we have adequate coverage for everyone,” Toomey said. “It’s something I feel strongly about. Our surge we’re having right now is not a metro surge. It’s a statewide surge.”

Dr. Vikas Kapell, chief medical officer for the Department of Public Health, said there will be no charge for the vaccine for Georgians who are eligible. The only population that may not have immediate coverage under an emergency-use authorization by the federal government are children because it is still unclear how the vaccine will affect them.

On Tuesday, Georgia topped more than 450,000 coronavirus cases statewide and has passed 9,000 related deaths.

Kemp said he does not expect to institute stricter COVID-19 guidelines despite rising case numbers but state officials plan “to keep everything on the table.”

“The things that we have in place will work; we’ve seen them work in the past. Our regulations that we have in place right now in the same way that they were when we were in some of our lowest numbers ever,” the Republican governor said.

But with increasing case numbers he reiterated that Georgians must continue to follow social distancing guidelines while a vaccine for most is still far in the future.

“I think there’s good news here and there’s not so good news,” Kemp said. “… I would urge my fellow Georgians if there’s an activity that you don’t have to do that involves being around a lot of people — don’t do that.”