CATHERINE WATERMAN, HANNAH BROPHY,

NEW YORK

The Canberra ex-pat, who works for Northwell Health, said she had asked her medical colleagues for their opinion on the safety of the vaccine.

“I realised that just because the time frame was shortened doesn’t mean that any steps were missed. It was just the red tape that was cut.”

She said that March was too long to wait for Australia to roll out vaccines.

“Australia just can’t keep closing the borders every time there’s an outbreak, it’s just not sustainable.”

STEFAN OBERMAN, LONG ISLAND

Long Island volunteer firefighter Stefan Oberman said he was “grateful” to have had his first coronavirus vaccine jab over the weekend.

“It was an easy process, I had an email from the firehouse and just followed their directions,” Mr Oberman said.

Formerly from Melbourne, Mr Oberman, 33, said he was not experiencing any ill effects from the shot — apart from a slightly sore arm.

MANCHESTER

The 28-year-old, who moved from Ashgrove in Brisbane to the UK four years ago, works as a biomedical scientist for the National Health Service.

She said the British government had fast-tracked the vaccine because “desperate times call for desperate measures”.

But she added the Australian government should not delay unnecessarily. “They should get the ball rolling,” Ms Brophy said.

KAREN CONRAD, ASPEN

Paramedic Karen Conrad was tasked with giving her firefighter husband Jason his shot (above) when the pair were among 643 Colorado locals treated with the Moderna vaccine.

“It felt great to be part of that day,” the former Gold Coaster said, adding that she felt a sense of “personal relief” to know she was immune and took part in the vaccination for the safety of others. “We all have to take it, we have to do it in order to get the virus out of the community,” she said.