‘Healing is coming’ — nurse gets vaccine
NEW YORK: A New York City intensive care unit nurse yesterday became the first person in the United States to receive a coronavirus vaccine, calling it a sign that ‘‘healing is coming,’’ as the nation’s Covid19 death toll crossed a staggering 300,000 lives lost.
Sandra Lindsay, who has treated some of the sickest Covid19 patients for months, was inoculated at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre in the New York City borough of Queens, an early epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, receiving applause on a livestream with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
‘‘It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,’’ Lindsay said.
‘‘I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.
‘‘I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe,’’
Lindsay added.
‘‘This is what heroes look like,’’ Cuomo wrote in the caption of a photo of Lindsay he posted on Twitter.
Similar scenes played out at select hospitals in other cities, including Los Angeles, where California Governor Gavin Newsom stood by and applauded as a Kaiser Permanente emergency room nurse rolled up her sleeve for a needle jab.
The madeforTV events were part of a broad campaign to reassure Americans of the vaccine’s safety.
Developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE, the vaccine, given as two doses three weeks apart, won US emergencyuse authorisation on Saturday.
Late yesterday, vaccine shipments had made it to nearly all of the 145 US distribution sites selected to receive the initial batches, with many hospital systems launching immunisations immediately. — Reuters