A New York City nurse said she “is hopeful” after becoming one of the first Americans to receive the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
The nurse, Sandra Lindsey, was given the drug in a live streamed broadcast presented by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“I’m relieved. I feel like healing is coming,” she said after receiving the shot. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.”
The first doses of the vaccine arrived in New York City on Monday.
Ms Lindsay is an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre in Queens, New York. She said the vaccine – administered by Dr Michelle Chester of Northwell Health – did not feel any different from any vaccine she had previously taken.
“[Dr Chester] has a good touch, and it didn’t feel any different than taking any other vaccine,” Ms Lindsay said.
After the shot, Ms Lindsay said she was feeling “well” and said she wanted to thank all of her fellow healthcare workers “who have been doing a yeoman’s job to fight this pandemic all over the world.”
Ms Lindsay joins the ranks of those who have already received the vaccine in the UK and Canada, where it was already approved, and the nearly 22,000 individuals who were vaccinated during the drug’s clinical trials.
Healthcare workers and nursing home residents were the first to receive the vaccine.
After that group has been vaccinated, essential workers – which includes police officers, first responders, teachers, and others depending on the state – will be next in line for vaccination, as well as the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.
Americans without underlying conditions and who are not elderly will be the last to receive the vaccine.
Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared on an MSNBC program on Monday and predicted that Americans without underlying conditions should start receiving shots by the end of March or beginning of April.
In the mean time, the US faces a continued increase in coronavirus cases as hospitals across the country feel the added strain the pandemic’s second wave.
Congressional leaders are still negotiating a second coronavirus stimulus, though not without difficulty and derision. A two part, bipartisan coronavirus relief bill – one $748bn package providing relief funds for schools and healthcare, among other items, and a $160bn package with funding for local governments and a limited liability shield protecting businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits – has been proposed by Congress.
The proposal does not include a second direct stimulus payment to Americans, an omission that Progressive lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have criticised.
