A New York hospital administers the first coronavirus vaccine in the US

Eleven months after the first coronavirus infection was documented in the United States, and when the disease has left more than 35,000 deaths in New York State, a nurse at a city hospital, the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, has received in the Tomorrow this Monday the first vaccine against covid-19 that is administered in the country most affected in the world by the pandemic.

The governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, made contact by videoconference with the hospital ward and spread the moment on his Twitter account.

“The first New Yorker, Intensive [care] nurse Sandra Lindsay, has been vaccinated.

We are closer to healing.

Thank you, Sandra ”, the governor wrote in a tweet headed by the word HISTORY, in capital letters.

The image of Lindsay, an African American, receiving the serum is more than symbolic, as New York was the epicenter of the pandemic in the first wave, and the African American population - along with the Latino population - the most affected by the virus.

The Long Island area continues to register spikes in infections higher than those of the rest of the city's districts, while the State reported an average of 10,048 cases a day last week, 72% more than two weeks earlier.

HISTORY.

The first New Yorker, frontline nurse Sandra Lindsay, has been vaccinated.

Healing is coming.

Thank you, Sandra.

- Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) December 14, 2020

"I didn't feel anything that I didn't feel when I had other vaccinations," Lindsay told the media in the hospital room.

But I do feel hopeful, relieved, I think the cure is closer.

I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.

I want to instill confidence in the population that the vaccine is safe ”.

Minutes before Lindsay received the serum, President Donald Trump also took to Twitter to congratulate himself on the news.

“First vaccine administered.

Congratulations USA.

Congratulations WORLD! ”, With its usual capital letters, in a last attempt to claim part of the credit after having repeatedly denied the seriousness of the disease and having turned it into a

political

casus belli

, for example, regarding the use of the mask, which the Republican and his followers despise.

Hospitals in Texas, Utah and Minnesota reported Monday that the start of vaccination was imminent.

Almost three million Americans will be inoculated starting today, when 6.4 million doses will be distributed, although only half will be administered during the week, because the rest is reserved for the mandatory second dose that must be given after three weeks to obtain 95% effectiveness.

This Monday, more than 16 million cases and 299,489 deaths from coronavirus were recorded throughout the country.

Long Island Hospital is owned by Northwell Health, a non-profit integrated healthcare network, as well as the largest healthcare provider in New York State with more than 74,000 employees.

Long Island is one of its two flagship hospitals.

Information about the coronavirus

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- The coronavirus map: this is how cases grow day by day and country by country

- Questions and answers about the coronavirus

- Guide to action against the disease

- In case of symptoms, these are the telephones that have been enabled in each Latin American country.