NEW DELHI, Dec 14: As the mass vaccination programme began in the worst-hit the Unite States on Monday, New York City ICU nurse Sandra Lindsay, who works at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens. became the first American, to receive an authorized Coronavirus vaccine in the country.
At a virtual press briefing, New York governor Andrew Cuomo introduced the historic recipient,
“It didn’t feel any different than taking any other vaccine,” Lindsey said. “I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe,” she said. “We’re in a pandemic so we all need to do our part.”
The nurse received the first shot as the first of nearly three million doses packed in dry ice to stay at ultra-frozen temperatures being shipped in staggered batches started making their way by truck and by plane around the US on Sunday from Pfizer’s Kalamazoo, Michigan, factory, marking the beginning of the country’s mass vaccination programme against the Coronavirus, the president Donald Trump announced on Monday.
Trump in a twitter message said “shipments of frozen vials reached the United States to battle the coronavirus disease.” Once they arrive at the distribution centres, each state will direct where the doses go next.
Marking the onset of what will be the largest vaccination campaign in the US history, shots made by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech are the first authorised for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Several other countries also have given their nod of acceptance for the vaccine, including the UK, which started vaccinating last week.
As planned by most of the countries, the US too would vaccinate health care workers first, who along with nursing home residents, have spent months battling a coronavirus that still is surging in the country and around the world. Authorities are expected to rush against time to rapidly get the vaccine into the arms of millions, not just doctors and nurses but other at-risk health workers such as janitors and food handlers — which will be immediately followed by a second dose three weeks later.
According to the FDA, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appears safe and strongly protective. The agency has also laid out the data behind it in a daylong public meeting last week for scientists and consumers alike to see. Experts have pointed out that the shots can cause temporary fever, fatigue and aches as they rev up people’s immune systems, forcing hospitals to stagger employee vaccinations.
(Manas Dasgupta)