The Queens intensive care nurse who was the first in the US to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is now also the first in the country to be fully vaccinated against the bug.
Sandra Lindsay, who works at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, burst into applause after completing her vaccination against the virus, exactly three weeks after she made international headlines with her first injection of the Pfizers vaccine.
“My message is still that of hope,” Linsday, 52, told reporters just after getting the second shot in the left arm. “I feel like I’ve completed some kind of marathon, I’ve closed the loop. I know we’re not out of the woods yet, we don’t have that herd immunity yet, but the burden definitely feels much lighter today. “
The record-breaking frontline worker got the shot again in front of cameras at a time when the country is grappling with the slower-than-expected vaccine rollout.
“My message will be by looking at me as an example that the vaccine is safe. I haven’t had any side effects, ”she said.
When asked if the second shot felt different, the nurse replied, “No, it didn’t feel any different” before bursting, “Maybe Dr. [Michelle] Chester’s hand softened a little. “
Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health, 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 “savior” during the global health crisis.
“I just want to tell people that if you’re not informed, you should stay tuned,” she said. ‘Don’t listen to rumors. Let’s all do our part. It is our civil responsibility to simply work together in a crisis and weather it. “
“COVID-19 has stripped us of our lives and our livelihoods – and 2021 is our chance to reclaim that,” she added.
Other hospitals in the region are also administering second doses of the vaccine to workers on Monday.
As of Saturday, 4.2 million people have received their first shot – although, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 13 million doses have been distributed. That’s only 32 percent.
Once the epicenter of the spring pandemic, New York is lagging behind other states in administering the vaccine – with only 236,941 first doses of the 774,075 doses received.