Post by Admin on Dec 17, 2021 4:10:14 GMT
First American to receive COVID-19 vaccine celebrates 1-year milestone
773,112 views • Dec 15, 2021 • Sandra Lindsay, the first American to receive a COVID-19 vaccine dose in December 2020, celebrates the one-year milestone and describes what an honor it is to make history.
One year ago, nurse Sandra Lindsay sat down in a slate blue chair at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, rolled up her white sleeve and made history.
Lindsay arrived at work that Monday knowing she would be among the first people in her hospital – and the United States – to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus. But she had no idea she would be the first, outside of clinical trials.
Since then, she has appeared on national television to advocate for vaccination, been celebrated in a ticker-tape parade for health care workers, and was recognized for her courage by President Joe Biden during a ceremony at the White House. The scrubs she wore were donated to the National Museum of American History as part of the collection that will record this chapter of life in the U.S. “I can’t even wrap my head around that,” Lindsay told the PBS NewsHour.
Throughout the pandemic, Lindsay has worked alongside her staff of nurses she directs to save patients from this terrifying disease. A longtime advocate of the power of vaccines, she said she monitored the news, read research studies about efforts to slow the spread of the virus and prayed in the months before she got her shot. She knew that the world – and especially her patients and staff – could not rely on social distancing, hand hygiene and face masks alone to stay safe.
“We needed a more powerful tool,” Lindsay said.
Once she received her first vaccine dose, she encouraged fellow nurses and people in her life to get vaccinated. Lindsay said she felt hope, relief and a belief that the pandemic’s spread would slow as more people got theirs.
Looking at the hospital where she has worked for years, as well as how life has changed since multiple COVID-19 vaccines became available, “it’s a stark contrast to where we were a year ago,” Lindsay said. Far fewer people are showing up at her hospital because they are sick with the coronavirus, she added.