First Americans To Be Administered COVID-19 Vaccine Are Health Workers

New York's Northwell Health Hospital Administers Covid Vaccines

(Photo : Getty Images/Mark Lennihan - Pool)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 14: Dr. Michelle Chester, right, rolls up the sleeve of Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, before she is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, December 14, 2020 , at the Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York City.

At least 55 of the 145 initial distribution sites received vaccine shipments by around noon on Monday, according to Gen. Gustave Perna, head of Operation Warp Speed, amid mass deliveries of the initial batch of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines.

First Batch of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccines Go to Health Workers

Perna stated the deliveries had been carried out at the time he was speaking to reporters on Monday. Out of the 145 shipments, Secretary Alex Azar referenced that 55 have been received, and the remaining shipments would be traced. The shipments for Tuesday's deliveries have been packed and checked, and they will be managing those, reported Fox News.

Health workers rolled up their sleeves for shots against the novel coronavirus in an aim to beat the pandemic, a day of optimism even as the United States' death toll record reached 300,000.

After critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay got a shot in the arm at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, she remarked that she feels hopeful and relieved on Monday. She feels that healing is imminent, reported ABC 7.

The pandemic has left over 16 million people ailing across the nation, reported Washington Post.

Hospitals and their employees in Pennsylvania and Ohio were administered the doses.

Lindsay was administered the coronavirus vaccine live on camera, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo virtually joined the significant event via video conference. She did not appear to flinch as she received the shot and told the governor the experience was no different than receiving other vaccines.

The Pfizer vaccine was just authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use last week.

Due to the Pfizer shot requiring two rounds, individuals being administered the vaccines will then get a second shot in an estimated three weeks.

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According to Lindsay, "I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our country. I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. We're in a pandemic and so we all need to do our part to put an end to the pandemic, and to not give up so soon. There's light at the end of the tunnel but we still need to continue to wear our mask, to social distance."

She added that she believes in science. As a nurse, she said her practice is guided by science, and she is reliant on that. What she is dubious about is that if she contracts COVID-19, she does not know how it will affect her or the people she comes in contact with. She encourages each person to take the vaccine, reported CNN.

Although individual states would identify how their allocated COVID-19 vaccine doses would be disseminated, the consensus is that frontline medical workers and nursing home residents are the first in line to be inoculated.

The initial shipments of almost three million doses reportedly arrived in 145 distribution centers on Monday in 50 states. At least 425 locations will also receive shipments on Tuesday and the remaining 66 on Wednesday.