The Choctaw Health Center began vaccinating its employees against COVID-19 on Thursday.

A representative of Indian Health Services delivered 425 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the Choctaw Health Center on Wednesday, according to a Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians press release. The first 100 vaccinations were administered to health center employees on Thursday and Friday.

“As we receive this first wave of vaccine, I want us to remember all those we have lost to COVID,” Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben said in the press release. “This first batch of vaccine will be provided to health personnel working on the frontline of the pandemic. Soon all our Tribal members will receive this vaccine. May this be the first step in the healing and wellness of our people from this disease and global pandemic.”

Ben, several Tribal Council members, the interim director of the Choctaw Health Center, health center employees and Choctaw pastors prayed together before the vaccine was administered to employees.

The Choctaw Health Center is the first health care facility in Neshoba County to receive the vaccine, according to the release. Employees at the center are not required to take the COVID-19 vaccine, but more than a third of the staff agreed to take it.

“CHC is committed to providing workforce members accurate information to help them decide whether and when to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” said Mary Harrison, interim director of the Choctaw Health Center, in a press release. “It is exciting to have the vaccine at Choctaw Health Center and have this added protection offered to our frontline employees.”

The health center’s Vaccine Task Force is following the vaccine distribution phases recommended by the Indian Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the first phase, COVID-19 vaccines will be administered to health center employees, first responders, long-term care facility staff and residents, and elders with underlying health conditions.