Updated: December 14, 2020 8:51:25 pm
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester in the New York borough of Queens (AP)
New York on Monday inoculated its first healthcare worker, an intensive care unit nurse in Queens, with the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, marking a pivotal turn in the U.S. effort to control the virus. mortal. Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse, received the vaccine at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, one of the first epicenters of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, and received applause on a live broadcast with the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“It felt no different than taking any other vaccine,” Lindsay said. “I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel the healing approaching. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. “Minutes after Lindsay’s injection, President Donald Trump tweeted:” First vaccine administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD! “
Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare system, operates some of the select hospitals in the United States that were administering the country’s first inoculations of the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine outside of trials Monday. The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, won emergency use approval from federal regulators on Friday after it was found to be 95% effective in preventing disease in a large clinical trial.
First vaccine administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
The first 2.9 million doses began shipping to distribution centers across the country on Sunday, just 11
months after the United States documented its first Covid-19 infections. As of Monday, the United States had recorded 16,286,343 cases and 299,489 deaths from the virus. Hospitals in Texas, Utah and Minnesota said they also anticipated receiving their first doses of the vaccine at select hospitals on Monday, to be administered immediately.
Nurse Annabelle Jimenez, left, congratulates nurse Sandra Lindsay after being inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (AP)
Logistical challenge
The first U.S. shipments of the coronavirus vaccine left the Pfizer facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday, packed into trucks with dry ice to maintain necessary sub-arctic temperatures, and then transported to waiting UPS and FedEx planes in airfields in Lansing. and Grand Rapids, kicking off a
national immunization effort of unprecedented complexity.
The planes delivered the shipments to UPS and FedEx freight centers in Louisville and Memphis, respectively, from where they were loaded onto planes and trucks for distribution to the first 145 of 636 vaccine preparation areas across the country. The second and third waves of vaccine shipments were due to go to the remaining sites on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A truck loaded with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine leaves the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage (AP)
“This is the most difficult vaccine launch in history. There will certainly be setbacks, but we’ve done everything from the federal level and working with partners to make everything go as smoothly as possible. Please bear with us, ”Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Fox News on Monday, adding that he would receive the vaccine as soon as possible.
The logistical effort is further complicated by the need to transport and store Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at minus 70 Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit), requiring massive amounts of dry ice or specialized ultra-cold freezers. Workers cheered and whistled as the first boxes were loaded onto trucks at the Pfizer factory on Sunday.
“We know that we are all suffering, our families are suffering. We are entering the Christmas holidays with closings and people will be very affected by this pandemic. We know how much people are suffering, ”UPS Healthcare President Wes Wheeler said Sunday from the company’s command center in Louisville, Kentucky. Healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care homes will be the first to receive the dose regimen vaccinations administered approximately three weeks apart.
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