The Queens critical care nurse, who was the first in the United States to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, is now also the first in the country to be completely vaccinated against the bug.
Sandra Lindsay, who works at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, burst into applause after completing her inoculation against the virus exactly three weeks since she made international headlines with her first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
“My message remains that of hope,” Linsday, 52, told reporters just after receiving the second shot in the left arm. “It seems to me that I have completed a kind of marathon and closed the loop. I know that we are not out of the forest yet, we still do not have this herd immunity, but today the load feels much lighter ”.
The record front-line worker was re-administered the shot in front of the cameras at a time when the nation was facing slower-than-expected vaccine deployment.
“My message will be, just looking at me as an example that the vaccine is safe. I didn’t have any side effects, ”he said.
Asked if the second shot felt different, the nurse replied, “No, it didn’t feel any different” before breaking down, “In fact, 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.
“I want to thank Sandra first and foremost for everything she’s been doing to promote the idea of vaccinating,” he said Monday.
Lindsay described the vaccine as “life-saving” during the global health crisis.
“I just want to tell people that if you’re not informed, get informed,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. We do our part. It is our civil responsibility in a crisis to unite and overcome this. “
“COVID-19 has taken away our lives and our livelihoods, and 2021 is our chance to get it back,” he added.
Other hospitals in the area are also administering vaccine doses to workers on Monday.
As of Saturday, 4.2 million people have received the first punch, although more than 13 million doses have been distributed, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 32 percent.
New York, which was the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring, has followed other states in vaccine administration, with only 236,941 first doses out of the 774,075 received.