(Jamaica Gleaner) A Jamaican-American nurse was the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine in New York.
Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, got the shot this morning.
Lindsay was born and raised in Jamaica, but immigrated to the United States in 1986 to further her education.
Her vaccination was livestreamed on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s website.
“I feel hopeful today. Relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the end of a very painful time in our history,” she said in an interview after getting the shot.
New York is getting an initial shipment of 170,000 doses, with more to follow.
“This is the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s a long tunnel,” Cuomo said.
The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first coronavirus vaccine last week. It was developed jointly by Pfizer and BioNTech and requires two doses several weeks apart.
A few other countries have authorized the vaccine, including Britain, which started vaccinating people last week, and Canada, which began doing so on Monday.
