Nurse Sandra Lindsay, First Person To Receive COVID Vaccine In U.S., Gets Second And Final Dose
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The first nurse in the United States to get the COVID vaccine received her second shot Monday morning.
Sandra Lindsay got her second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 21 days after getting the first dose. The Pfizer vaccine has been deemed 95% effective after the second dose.
See It: Sandra Lindsay Receives Second COVID Vaccine Dose
"It feels like I've completed the cycle, closed the loop, so to speak, by receiving the second dose," Lindsay said. "The last 21 days has been quite busy educating, inspiring, encouraging people to trust the science, get informed and get vaccinated."
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The shot was administered at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, where Lindsay oversees the intensive care patients.
The experience will forever be etched in nation's history and it gave Lindsay celebrity status. Now, colleagues and strangers ask for photos, and the mail and emails keep rolling in, CBS2's Vanessa Murdock reported.
"I had no idea I was going to be the first in New York state, the first in the country and that it would generate all this attention," Lindsay said.
What's more, she hadn't told her mom the big news.
"After the vaccine, she started getting all these calls from the press and she's wondering what is going on," Lindsay said, adding when asked what her mother thinks of the whole thing, "Everybody is just very proud of me."
Just Monday morning, she said she received letters from children homeschooling in New Hampshire.
"They said, 'We know about the Tuskegee study and why people are hesitant, but thank you for coming forward and showing people that it is safe,'" Lindsay said.
She said she is grateful for the opportunity to inform and inspire.
"Use me as an example. You can ask me questions. Talk to your health care providers. Don't listen to hearsay. Go with the evidence," she said.
She added with vaccinations underway, 2021 is the year to reclaim our lives and our livelihoods.
Lindsay said after the first dose she experienced no side effects, and asked CBS2 to say a huge thank you to everyone on the front lines around the world fighting the good fight.
CBS2's Vanessa Murdock contributed to this report
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