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WATCH: New Yorker is 1st in nation to receive COVID-19 vaccine

Marian Hetherly
/
WBFO News
A screenshot from the live video feed provided by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office.

New York State made history Monday morning. The first New Yorker to receive the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer took place at 9:10 a.m. It also was the first dose to be administered nationwide. Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care unit nurse at Long Island Medical Center in Queens, received the vaccine injection live on camera.

"It didn’t feel any different than taking any other vaccine," said Lindsay.

The vaccine’s producer, Pfizer, began shipping doses across the country this weekend. The vaccine will be distributed across New York and administered this week initially to high-risk healthcare workers and nursing homes patients.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said last week the state will receive 170,000 doses, with 14,500 doses allotted in the first round of distribution for the Western New York Region.

Read Lindsay's message to the public after receiving the vaccine below.

Credit Marian Hetherly / WBFO News
A Queens ICU nurse becomes the first person in New York State to receive the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine.
“I would like to thank all the front line workers, all my colleagues who have been doing a yeoman’s job to fight this pandemic all over the world. I am hopeful. I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. “I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. We are in a pandemic, and so we all need to do our part to put an end to the pandemic and to not give up so soon. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but we still need to continue to wear our masks, to social distance. I believe in science. As a nurse, my practice is guided by science, and so I trust science. “What I don’t trust is that if I contract COVID, I don’t know how it will impact me or those who I come in contact with. So I encourage everyone to think of that.”

Avery began his broadcasting career as a disc jockey for WRUB, the University at Buffalo’s student-run radio station.
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