The Queensland intensive care nurse, who was the first in the United States to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, is now also the first in the country to be fully vaccinated against the virus.
Sandra Lindsay, who works at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, burst into applause after completing her inoculation against the virus exactly three weeks since she made international headlines with her first injection of the Pfizer vaccine.
“My message is still one of hope,” Linsday, 52, told reporters shortly after receiving the second shot in his left arm. “I feel like I completed a kind of marathon, I closed the cycle. I know we’re not out of danger yet, we don’t have that herd immunity yet, but the burden definitely seems a lot lighter today. “
The record-breaking frontline worker was once again given the camera footage at a time when the country is struggling with the slower-than-expected distribution of vaccines.
“My message is going to be, just looking at me as an example that the vaccine is safe. I had no side effects, ”she said.
Asked if the second injection looked different, the nurse replied: “No, it didn’t look any different” before clicking, “In fact, maybe Dr. [Michelle] Chester’s hand became a little more delicate. “
Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling said Lindsay is now the first in the country to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I want to thank Sandra first for everything she has done to spread the word about vaccination,” he said on Monday.
Lindsay called the vaccine a “savior” during the global health crisis.
“I just want to tell people that, if you’re not informed, inform yourself,” she said. “Don’t listen to rumors. Let’s all do our part. It is our civil responsibility in a crisis to just come together and get over it. “
“COVID-19 has deprived us of our lives and livelihoods – and 2021 is our opportunity to recover that,” she added.
Other hospitals in the area are also administering second doses of the vaccine to workers on Monday.
As of Saturday, 4.2 million people received their first injection – although more than 13 million doses have been distributed, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is only 32 percent.
New York, which was once the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring, is behind other states in administering the vaccine – with only 236,941 first administered doses of 774,075 received.