COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Underway as Doctors and Nurses Across US Receive 1st Doses

America stopped to watch live on network TV and on cable news as Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Hospital in New York, became the first American to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I felt extremely lucky to be in this position," Lindsay, 51, who became a grandmother during the pandemic, told Inside Edition.

"To be able to tell the world and people who look like me who are sceptics about taking vaccine in general that it's safe," said Lindsay, who is Black, "It's OK to take the vaccine." 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was watching the historic moment on a remote link up.

“So this is the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a long tunnel,” he said.  

Moments later, President Donald Trump tweeted, “First vaccine administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations world!”

The first shot was given at 9:22 a.m., and within minutes, additional healthcare professionals were being vaccinated. Doctors and nurses across the country, from Florida to Connecticut, Pennsylvania to Washington D.C. were vaccinated, often to applause.  

FedEx and UPS, rivals working together for the first time, began rolling out the precious vaccine over the weekend on fleets of planes and armada of trucks. By Wednesday, 600 hospitals and clinics will have the doses they need. However, it may be another week before elderly residents of nursing homes are vaccinated, according to reports.

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