[ad_1]
The largest immunization campaign of all time in the United States began this Monday (12/14), with three million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against covid-19 sent to hospitals in all 50 states via airplanes. . cargo and trucks.
In this first stage of application of the vaccine, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) health agency on Friday (11/12), health professionals and the elderly living in nursing homes will receive treatment.
A nurse from an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Long Island, New York, is believed to be the first person to receive the vaccine in the country.
Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was immunized live in front of the camera. The images were broadcast on Twitter by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state was the epicenter of the first wave of covid-19 in the United States earlier this year.
“It was no different than getting any other vaccine,” Lindsay said. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful period in our history. I want to reinforce the public’s confidence that the vaccine is safe. We are in a pandemic and therefore we must all do our part.”
Deaths from covid-19 already number almost 300,000 in the United States, which has by far the highest number of deaths from the new disease in the world.
The arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine comes at a time when the coronavirus continues to devastate the country. Deaths have risen dramatically since November and the number of people hospitalized with the disease has also continued to grow steadily, with more than 109,000 people currently hospitalized, according to the Covid Tracking project.
The United States immunization program aims to reach 100 million people by April.
“I think it was probably the darkest December on record here. Last week, covid-19 was the leading cause of death in the United States, ahead of cancer and heart disease,” Dora Mills, a doctor at MaineHealth. , a network of 12 hospitals in Portland, Maine.
“It is a very dark time, but it is also extraordinary that we have a vaccine less than a year after the virus emerged. If the efficacy and safety data are maintained, this is probably the greatest scientific and public health achievement of our lives. “. “
Hospitals and health units that are receiving the first doses are adopting scales for the vaccination of their employees, in order to compensate for possible side effects, those reported so far have a mild to moderate impact, including fatigue, fever and pain from head.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is also already being applied in the United Kingdom and Canada, which also began its immunization program on Monday, with 30,000 doses distributed in 14 points of the country.
Anita Quidangen, a caregiver at the Rekai Center in Toronto, was the first to receive the vaccine in Canada.
