ICU nurse who was first to get COVID-19 vaccine reports no side effects

Nurse Sandra Lindsay, who is thought to be the first American to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial, said she is not experiencing any symptoms after receiving the inoculation on Monday.

“I feel great this morning, no muscle pain, no aches, no maladies, no fever. Mild soreness at the site, on a scale of 1 to 10 it’s a 1,” Lindsay told “The View” on Tuesday, saying that the shot itself was “just a little pinch” and “didn’t hurt at all.”

Lindsay, an intensive care unit nurse at a hospital in New York, received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at the start of the week, the same day states across the country began receiving doses.

She said the vaccine “absolutely” gives her a feeling of hope and “relief” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

“A feeling that healing is here, and it’s just incredibly important for us as health care workers to have that hope. The last couple months have been really tough physically and mentally, and I am just so happy that this is here for us, and it signifies hope and healing,” Lindsay said. 

“A burden was lifted off my shoulders yesterday as I got that shot.”

ICU nurse Sandra Lindsay made history as the first American to get the COVID-19 vaccine and she tells @TheView she got the vaccine publicly to help “preserve public health and safety.” https://t.co/ub8JZYdTnB pic.twitter.com/F0t2Kx58Dk

— The View (@TheView) December 15, 2020

“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin noted that “there are a lot of people, including many in the Black and Latino communities, who are nervous to take this vaccine.” Hostin asked what the health care worker would want to say “to all of the people who are thinking about skipping the vaccine out of fear and mistrust.” 

“Use me as an inspiration. I hope that I’ve inspired you. Listen to the experts like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and others. Speak to your health care providers. Do not skip the vaccine,” Lindsay said, referencing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta. 

“I trust science. What I don’t trust is COVID-19, and you should not either. So please, please, please listen to me and the others. I have seen a lot, experienced a lot, and so I appeal to you. This was mostly why I wanted to do this. It’s nice to be on television, to have this platform, to share with the masses, but I did this to preserve public health and safety,” she continued.

A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday found that 35 percent of Black survey respondents said they would “definitely or probably not get vaccinated for COVID-19.” 

Lindsay on Tuesday added that she “can’t even begin to describe the scenes, the long work hours, the pain, the suffering, the deaths” that she and other front-line health care workers have experienced since the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S. in March. 

“How my team worked tirelessly, but they were so courageous, the incredible sacrifices that they made to be at work and to save lives,” she continued. 

U.S. health officials estimate that approximately 20 million people could be vaccinated in December, with health care workers and individuals in nursing homes being among the first to receive doses.

The vaccine rollout comes as COVID-19 cases are continuing to increase across the country. The U.S. recorded 201,073 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, along with 1,678 fatalities.