Health-care workers in Edmonton, Calgary to receive first COVID-19 vaccination Tuesday afternoon.

• Alberta's first COVID-19 vaccination will take place today in south Calgary at 4 p.m., Premier Jason Kenney said this morning. The recipient will be a nurse.
• The province received 3,900 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine on Dec. 14 and expects to get another 25,350 doses at the start of next week, officials say.
• The first vaccines will be administered to health-care professionals in Calgary and Edmonton at approximately 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the premier's office confirmed.
• Alberta plans to administer first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to 29,000 health-care workers by the end of December, the province's health minister says.
• Details on the vaccine and Alberta's plans to date can be found here.
• Alberta reported 1,887 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday — a new record high — and another 15 deaths.
• Across the province, 716 people are being treated in hospitals for the illness, including 136 in ICU beds.
• The R-value, or reproduction number, over the past seven days averaged 0.98. An R-value of 1 means an infected person has infected, on average, one other person. If the value is above 1, the spread will continue to grow.

Another 25,350 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive next week, allowing for 29,000 health-care workers to be vaccinated by the end of the month.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada has signed a contract to receive up to 168,000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine before the end of December.

Deliveries could begin within 48 hours of approval by Health Canada.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Monday the Moderna vaccine would be prioritized for continuing care.

“It won’t require ultra-cold storage so we hope to get it to the first continuing care residents before Dec. 31,” Shandro said.

High Level to take part in dry-run

Tuesday afternoon, Shandro said High Level has been selected to take part in a dry-run for Moderna vaccines this week, to test deliveries to remote locations.

“The Moderna dry run is expected to take place on December 18 and involves receiving empty vaccine containers that must be kept at -20,” he said on Twitter.

“To be clear, this is a standard process, and the same exercise was undertaken to prepare for the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine.”

When more shipments of vaccines arrive in January, the first phase of immunization will focus on priority populations including residents of long-term care, designated supportive living facilities, seniors aged 75 and over and First Nations on reserve, Inuit and on-settlement Métis individuals aged 65 and over.

On Monday the province reported 1,887 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases is at 21,123 — the highest in the country. There are 716 people in hospital, including 136 in intensive care units. The death toll is at 733.

— With files from The Canadian Press and CBC