New York City to mark 1 year anniversary of first COVID shot
NEW YORK - Tuesday marks one year since a critical care nurse from a hospital in Queens became the first person in the United States to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
On December 15, 2020, Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Glen Oaks, was inoculated with the first of two shots of Pfizer's mRNA vaccine.
"I feel hopeful today. Relieved," said Lindsay at the time.
On the same day as the first inoculation, the first shipment of COVID vaccines was delivered to five hospitals in the city with 37 hospitals receiving a shipment the following day. It was the beginning of the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.
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NYC critical care nurse first to receive coronavirus vaccine
"At this moment a year go zero, zero percent of New Yorkers were vaccinated," said Mayor Bill de Blasio during a briefing from City Hall.
By mid-August, 60% of adults in New York City had received one dose.
As of Monday New York City reported more than 70% percent of residents were vaccinated and 90% of adult New Yorkers had received at least one dose.
"Our healthcare team all through the COVID crisis dreamed of that level of vaccination," added de Blasio.
200 million people were fully vaccinated across the United States. Since the outbreak in March 2020, nearly 800 million people in the U.S. have died from the disease.
De Blasio credited mandates with helping curb the spread of the deadly virus as the new indoor mask mandate went into effect across the state.
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The vaccine was given emergency clearance for widespread use before a final study in nearly 44,000 people was complete -- and that research was continuing to try to answer additional questions.
At the time, it was not clear if the vaccine would stop the symptomless spread of the virus. It ultimately did not.
With the Associated Press