A nurse in New York became the first person in the United States to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.
Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, received the shot live on television shortly before 9:30 am (1430 GMT).
“First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!” US President, Donald Trump tweeted.
COVID-19 vaccination programme started in US on Monday as the nation’s death toll edged towards 300,000.
Delivery trucks with special refrigeration equipment rolled out of a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday as part of a public-private plan to ship millions of doses of the newly approved Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to vulnerable Americans.
Courier services, FedEx and UPS have deployed fleets of trucks and planes to carry their precious cargo — sometimes under armed guard — to all 50 states, where healthcare workers and nursing-home residents will be first in line.
“Vaccines are shipped and on their way,” President Donald Trump tweeted, adding,“Get well USA. Get well WORLD.”
One state governor, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said that “we now believe that the first individuals will be vaccinated” on Monday, less than 72 hours after the vaccine received emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration.
An initial 2.9 million doses are set to be delivered by Wednesday, with officials saying 20 million Americans could receive the two-shot regimen by year end, and 100 million by March.
But the breakthrough comes at one of the darkest moments of the pandemic, with infections in the United States and many other countries soaring, and health experts still struggling against vaccine skepticism, lockdown fatigue and uneven adherence to safety rules.
(AFP)
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