See It: First Coronavirus Vaccine Shot In State Goes To NYC Nurse

NEW YORK CITY — A New York City critical care nurse rolled up her sleeve Monday morning and received the first coronavirus vaccine shot in the state, perhaps even the country.

Sandra Lindsay said she felt well after getting the dose — an almost blink-and-you-miss-it moment that unfolded in a room inside Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens that Gov. Andrew Cuomo live-streamed.

Lindsay, who worked for months on the front lines against the coronavirus, said she hoped to instill public confidence in the vaccine.

“I feel like healing is coming,” Lindsay said. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.”

The shot had made its way to Lindsay’s arm after a journey from a Pfizer facility in Michigan, which started sending out hundreds of shipments of doses after the federal government approved the vaccine over the weekend.

The much-anticipated vaccine is first going to front line health care workers and nursing home residents in New York and elsewhere across the country.

But the first shot in New York carried added symbolic weight — Lindsay works in Queens, the borough hit hardest by the virus in March and April.

Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, said the hospital system had 3,500 coronavirus patients at one point in April. It has seen well over 100,000 patients since the pandemic struck, he said.

“Just because we’re giving out the vaccine, it’s no excuse for the public out there not to continue wearing masks, not to social distance, et cetera,” he said. “You have to continue to comply with safety standards even though the vaccine is going to be distributed over the next couple of months.”

Roughly 72,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine are expected to arrive in New York City for its first allocation.

Cuomo said “trains, planes and automobiles” are moving the vaccine all over the state.

“It’s the beginning of the last chapter of the book,” he said.

Read more about Sandra Lindsay’s experiences working on the front lines against COVID-19 here.