Sandra Lindsay, RN, a critical care nurse and intensive care unit director at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, became the first American to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 14, reports The New York Times.
Ms. Lindsay oversees five critical care nursing units at the New York City-based hospital, which is part of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, according to The Washington Post.
"It feels surreal," she told the Times of her experience. "It is a huge sense of relief for me, and hope."
Ms. Lindsay said her goal was not to become the first person to receive a vaccine, but to lead by example and help expel lingering skepticism about the vaccine seen even in some of her own staff members, according to the Times.
As a Black woman, she said it was also important for her to help encourage people of color — who recognize a long history of racist medical treatment and experimentation in the U.S. — to get the vaccine.