The U.S. has started to distribute the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Earlier today, New York City, and specifically the borough of Queens, experienced the first person in the United States receiving Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The person at the center of this news is critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay, according to the New York Post. Lindsay, who works at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, received the two-dose vaccine at 9:20 a.m. Onlookers broke out in applause as Lindsay received the injection into her left arm.
“I feel great,” Lindsay said moments after the injection.
“I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming,” she added. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.”
Lindsay also noted that she hopes to “instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe.”
Here is a look at the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine being given to frontline workers in Queens, New York. pic.twitter.com/FdivfD0MvZ
— MSNBC Reports (@MSNBC_reports) December 14, 2020
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo watched the scene from a livestream. Before the moment, he noted that Lindsay was, “The person who is going to take the first vaccine in the state of New York, maybe the first vaccine shot in the United States.”
“This vaccine is exciting because I believe this is the weapon that will end the war,” the governor later added. “It is the beginning of the last chapter of the book, but now we just have to do it.”
Cuomo then concluded, “The vaccine doesn’t work if it’s in the vial … We’re here to watch you take the first shot.”
This is what heroes look like.
Sandra Lindsay, an ICU Nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, became the FIRST AMERICAN to get vaccinated in a non-trial setting.
Thank you Sandra and thank you Dr. Michelle Chester. #NewYorkTough pic.twitter.com/g4HGZ3jbGG
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) December 14, 2020
The vaccine developed by Manhattan-based Pfizer and German company BioNTech was given authorization for emergency use in the US by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday night. Now, the vaccine is expected to arrive at 145 locations across the United States by today’s end. Then, around 2.9 million doses will be distributed by this week’s end.
But who will receive the vaccine first? The vaccine is expected to first go to high-risk groups like health care workers and nursing home resident’s staff/residents. Access will then open as we go through the coming weeks and months.
This is the next step of exciting news after the U.K. witnessed its own first vaccine recipients last week. In that case, two elderly citizens were the first in both the UK and the world to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (outside of tests). Plus, there is still another vaccine waiting to be approved for distribution. If that vaccine receives authorization, the fight against the coronavirus pandemic will get exponentially stronger. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for such a future.
Source: the New York Post,
