Photo: Getty Images
One year ago, Sandra Lindsay sat in a chair and rolled up the sleeve of her nurse's uniform. Facing a swarth of cameras, the eyes of the nation and world watching, she made history as the first American to receive the authorized Covid-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial. In the year since then, Lindsay says she's found a new passion to ease fears and encourage the widespread us of this "powerful tool."
"It's the one-year anniversary and I'm feeling great," Lindsay, a nurse for Northwell Health on Long Island, told ABC News 7. "We didn't know at the time that I would make history as the first person in the United States to be vaccinated," she added, noting that the last 365 days have been a "whirlwind."
Throughout the interviews, being honored by President Joe Biden at the White House, and even having the scrubs she wore while receiving the vaccine preserved by the Museum of American History, Lindsay has been working alongside her colleagues to care for Covid-19 patients, even now.
"We're seeing folks come in, mostly unvaccinated, we do have patients that we are able to treat and and release from the ED, in my critical area today we have five or six patients and those are the sickest patients, unvaccinated patients, and younger patients," Lindsay shared.
At a peak of the pandemic, Lindsay said Northwell had more than 3,000 Covid-19 patients. Today, they have 365.
"I can't imagine where we'd be if we didn't have this powerful tool to protect us," Lindsay said of the vaccine. "So encourage more and more people to protect themselves, and this is not just about your but your loved ones and the communities in which you live," she added.
Lindsay told PBS News Hour that s he's an advocate of health equity –– particularly of global vaccine equity. "Until we get that, we'll continue to have variants," she said.
The RN admitted she even had questions about the vaccine when it came out, so she said she did her research, listened to health experts, and used information on "reputable websites" before making her decision.
"Inaction is not an option," she said. "We cannot continue to live like this.
To learn more about Covid-19 and the vaccines, please click here.
Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.