News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Dec. 15, 2020: “Immigrants, we get the job done,” the line from ‘Hamilton’ the musical, about America’s Greatest immigrant, Alexander Hamilton, took on new life Monday, as two Caribbean American medical professionals became the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.
Jamaican-born nurse, Sandra Lindsay, became one of the most famous nurses in the United States when New York state officials said she was the first person in the country vaccinated for the coronavirus.
The 52-year-old immigrated to the US 30 years ago and, she went to community college and then to Lehman College in the Bronx for her nursing degree.
She went to work at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and rose through the ranks until she became the director of critical care nursing at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, part of the Northwell Health network, in 2016.
On Monday, she made international news as she rolled up her sleeve and took the very first COVID-19 vaccine administered in the US, at the medical centre on the Queens-Long Island border.
The moment was streamed into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s news conference and televised live on CNN.
“We are courageous, but obviously, the team is fearful. And so today marks a significant step in eradicating this pandemic once and for all, bending that curve and keeping it down,” Lindsay, who lives in Port Washington, Long Island, and has one son and six brothers and sisters said. “So, it’s important that everyone pulls together to take the vaccine, not only to protect themselves but also to protect everyone they will come into contact with.”
Next up in the chair was another Caribbean American, Haitian roots Dr. Yves Duroseau, the chair of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
As a frontline emergency medicine physician, he is at high risk and said he wanted the staff of doctors, nurses and other health care workers that he oversees to follow his example.
Dr. Duroseau said he is also eager to send a message, especially to Black people, that vaccination is safe.
“I think we need to fear the Covid-19 virus more than we need to fear the vaccine,” said Dr. Duroseau.
