NATIONWIDE — The first COVID-19 vaccine shipments are anticipated in Texas and across the nation in the coming weeks. Texas alone has approximately 1.4 million doses due to arrive on December 14.

However, just because the vaccine is making its way to your community doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get the pair of needed shots any time soon.

Those first doses will go to frontline health care workers and people identified as vulnerable.

"The State of Texas is already prepared for the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine, and will swiftly distribute these vaccines to Texans who voluntarily choose to be immunized,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stated in a recent press release. "As we await the first shipment of these vaccines, we will work with communities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19."

The New York Times, working with Ariande Labs and the Surgo Foundation, has produced an online tool that is designed to give you a rough idea of where you are in line to receive the vaccine.

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It’s simple to use. You just answer questions concerning your age, your county of residence, your occupation, and your COVID-19 vulnerability level, and the tool produces an estimate of where you are in the queue.

For instance, for a 46-year-old man who resides in William County, Texas, does not have elevated COVID-19 health risks and does not work in a profession that puts him in a great deal of contact with potentially exposed individuals, the following results were returned:

  • The hypothetical man is behind 268.7 million Americans across the country for the vaccine.
  • The man is behind 24.4 million other Texans for the vaccine.
  • In Williamson County, the man is behind 403,500 other residents for the vaccine.

How quickly the hypothetical man will move through the line remains to be seen.

“It’s incredible that we have vaccines with high levels of initial efficacy in such a short period of time,” Dr. Sema Sgaier, a co-founder and the executive director of the Surgo Foundation, told the New York Times. “But the vaccine is not going to be a silver bullet for a while.”