The Queens nurse who was the first in the US to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is now also the first in the country to be completely vaccinated against the insect.
Sandra Lindsay, who works at the Jewish Medical Center in Long Island, burst into applause after completing her inoculation against the virus exactly three weeks after she made international headlines with her first Pfizer vaccine.
“My message is still one of hope,” Linsday, 52, told reporters immediately after receiving a second blow to his left arm. “I feel like I finished a kind of marathon, I closed the loop. I know we haven’t come out of the woods yet, we don’t have that herd immunity yet, but the burden certainly feels much lighter today. “
The top registration worker was again shot in front of the cameras at a time when the nation is facing a slower-than-expected release of vaccines.
“My message will be, looking only at me as an example that the vaccine is safe. I had no side effects, “she said.
Asked if the second blow felt different, the nurse replied, “No, it didn’t feel any different” before breaking in: “Actually, maybe Dr. [Michelle] Chester’s hand became a little softer. “
Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling said Lindsay is now the first in the country to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“First of all, I want to thank Sandra for everything she has done to promote the idea of vaccination,” he said Monday.
Lindsay called the vaccine a “lifesaver” during the global health crisis.
“I just want to tell people that if you’re not informed, find out,” she said. “It simply came to our notice then. Let’s all do our part. It is our civil responsibility in a crisis to unite and get through this. “
“COVID-19 has stripped us of our lives and livelihoods – and 2021 is our opportunity to claim that,” she added.
Other hospitals in the area also administer the second dose of vaccine to workers Monday.
As of Saturday, 4.2 million people had received the first blow – although more than 13 million doses had been distributed, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s only 32%.
New York, once the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring, watched other states administer the vaccine – with only 236,941 first doses out of 774,075 received.