A nurse in Queens, New York, took the first coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. without a flinch Monday, saying she “believes in science” as medical centers from coast to coast worked feverishly to unpack frozen vials and get doses into health care workers.
Sandra Lindsay and other day-one recipients said the shot felt like any other vaccine, enthusing governors and health officials who are leaning on frontline workers to instill confidence in Pfizer shots that were approved at “warp speed” to combat the disease that has killed more than 300,000 U.S. residents.
“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,” Ms. Lindsay said at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center shortly after 9 a.m.
Hours later Vanessa Arroyo, a 31-year-old frontline nurse at Tampa General Hospital, calmly rolled up her sleeve as the first Floridian to get vaccinated.
“Yayyy,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said as the room applauded.
President Trump’s vaccine team said the historic operation launched without a hitch after Pfizer, which developed the shots with German company BioNTech, earned regulatory approval Friday night and loaded up planes over the weekend.
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Every state received boxes of vaccine Monday and nearly 3 million doses will go out by Wednesday, the start of a weekly cadence that will be greatly bolstered if Moderna’s vaccine is approved this week.
Federal and state officials acknowledged it was just the beginning of a long and arduous rollout that will last through the first half of 2021. They also said people should be prepared to wear masks and take other precautions for a while longer as reported infections, hospitalizations and deaths mount on the cusp of the winter holidays.
Images of health care workers getting protection from COVID-19 had particular resonance, as they wage battle on the front lines of the pandemic.
“I watched the footage of the trucks carrying vaccine, and vaccine arriving at hospitals and the first health care workers getting vaccinated, with goose bumps. It is a truly historic day as we begin to vaccinate,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.
“I don’t think you can overestimate the significance of the vaccine when upwards of 3,000 people are dying every day,” she said. “Frontline health workers have been fighting this pandemic for over nine months, and finally have a tool available to protect themselves and stop the spread of the virus. It is going to take time given the limited supply of vaccine, but the end of their struggle is on the horizon.”
The scenes allowed Mr. Trump to take a victory lap — the speedy rollout has been hailed as a medical miracle — even as the Electoral College affirmed his loss to Democratic rival Joseph R. Biden and the COVID-19 death toll reached once once-unfathomable heights.
“First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams stressed that scientists of color played key roles in developing the vaccines, hoping to address vaccine hesitancy within minority populations. He said the government will work with faith leaders, historically Black colleges and universities, and other “connection points” to build confidence in coronavirus shots.
Who receives the first shots is up to each state, and many of the first recipients were doctors at major medical centers.
Mr. Trump’s initiative, known as Operation Warp Speed, said it expects several states to begin inoculating the residents of long-term care facilities, who have been prioritized alongside health care workers, this week.
A federal partnership that calls on CVS and Walgreens to administer the shots at nursing homes will be fully operational by Monday nationwide, officials said.
The U.S. started its immunization campaign six days after the United Kingdom became the first nation to use the Pfizer shots. Canada approved the shots and expects to begin inoculating people shortly.
A second vaccine, from Moderna, is on track for U.S. approval by the end of the week, adding much-needed doses to the supply. The shots can sit in a regular refrigerator for up to a month and come in trays with fewer doses than Pfizer’s 975 minimum, so the Moderna option might be optimal for decentralized, rural areas.
A vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is on track for approval in January or February. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna versions, it requires only a single dose, so it can “scale up very quickly,” said Operation Warp Speed science adviser Moncef Slaoui.
He said AstraZeneca’s vaccine also could be available around the start of the new year, making Operation Warp Speed officials confident they can reach their goal of inoculating 100 million people by the end of March.
Operation Warp Speed wants to get vaccines to every American who wants them by the end of June, though Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II said general-population distribution could begin by late winter.
“Late February, into March time period, I think you will start seeing [it is] much more like a flu vaccination campaign. People going into their Kroger, their CVS, their Walgreens, Walmart,” Mr. Azar told NBC’s “Today Show.”
In the meantime, the campaign is expected to expand from health workers and long-term care facilities to other essential workers and then seniors and people with serious health conditions.
Pfizer executives will not “cut in line” and receive the vaccine before their turn, CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC.
The Food and Drug Administration late Friday approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in people age 16 or older, prompting the drugmaker to pack boxes of their ultracold vaccines Sunday for delivery at 145 sites across the states Monday.
FedEx executive Richard Smith told NBC that the first shipment of vaccines arrived at a Massachusetts hospital at 5:33 a.m.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised Ms. Lindsay and medical staff in Queens, dubbing them heroes after the borough was a “modern-day battlefield” during the early wave of the pandemic.
“It’s the beginning of the last chapter of the book,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said of the vaccine kickoff. “We have planes, trains and automobiles moving this all over the state right now, we want to get it deployed and we want to get it deployed quickly.”
Mr. Azar and Dr. Adams celebrated the first inoculations at George Washington University Hospital in the nation’s capital while western states received allotments throughout the afternoon.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom looked on as Helen Cordova, an ICU nurse, got her shot in Los Angeles and tweeted photos of the vaccines being stored at minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego called the shipment of vaccines a “critical point that will hopefully ease the burden for many, including our health care workers and first responders,” though she said residents should still wear masks and maintain physical distance from each other as transmission worsens.
Army Gen. Gustave Perna, who is handling Warp Speed’s operation logistics, said no early mishaps occurred that would have required him to tap into a safety reserve of 500,000 doses.
The operation is holding onto an additional 2.9 million doses to make sure the first recipients get their booster shot 21 days later.
Monday’s kickoff arrived at a critical juncture for the country. The U.S. is recording 2,000 to 3,000 deaths a day, and more than 108,000 people are hospitalized across the nation.
Ms. Lindsay, the inaugural New York recipient, mixed her optimism with a dose of caution, saying she doesn’t know if she can still catch the virus and give it to others who aren’t protected yet.
Government scientists are trying to figure out whether vaccinated persons will be transmitters of the virus. They’re also tracking how long the protection against severe disease lasts, while doctors and pharmacies get a handle on distribution.
“We’re going to learn quite a bit as we vaccinate health care workers, including how long it takes to vaccinate, how well we are managing the cold-storage complications, how many people are accepting the vaccine and what questions recipients have about the vaccine,” Ms. Hannan said. “This information, combined with more predictable and stable vaccine allocations, will put us in a better position to prepare the public for what to expect and when to expect vaccine.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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