A Queens critical care nurse has become the first New Yorker and is among the first in the United States to receive thePfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
The entire room burst into applause after Lindsay received the vaccine.
“It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,” she said after, adding, “I hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history.”
Gov. Cuomo, 63, celebrated the vaccination on Twitter, writing, “HISTORY. The first New Yorker, frontline nurse Sandra Lindsay, has been vaccinated. Healing is coming. Thank you, Sandra.”
Sandra Lindsay, the first person in the U.S. to receive a vaccine.MARK LENNIHAN/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Approval meant that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine could begin to be distributed to people 16 years and older, marking “a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., said in apress release.
The FDA also said that the “potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks” and assured the public and medical community that “a thorough evaluation of the available safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality information” was conducted.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.Vincent Kalut / Photonews via Getty Images
Another 425 sites are expected to receive the vaccine on Tuesday and the final 66 sites will receive it on Wednesday, completing the initial delivery of Pfizer vaccines.
Perna noted that the federal government will only be delivering half the doses, approximately 2.9 million, at this time as the Pfizer vaccine requires two doses.
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images
In the U.S. alone, the contagious respiratory virus has infected more than 16.3 million people, and at least 299,328 people have died as a result of COVID-19 as of the morning of Dec. 14,according to datafrom theNew York Times.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes,PEOPLEis committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources fromCDC,WHO, andlocal public health departments. To help provide doctors and nurses on the front lines with life-saving medical resources,donate to Direct Relief here.
source: people.com
