A New York nurse on Monday became the first American to be vaccinated against Covid-19, a symbol of hope for the most bereaved country in the world, which has just crossed the dramatic threshold of 300,000 people who have died of the disease.
“First vaccine administered. Congratulations to the United States, congratulations to the WORLD!” Tweeted President Donald Trump within minutes of the injection, which came six days after the first vaccinations in the United Kingdom, the first country to allow the antidote from Pfizer / BioNTech laboratories.
Shortly after, President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to take office in January, tweeted: “Hold on to your hopes, better days are coming.”
After being stung in front of the cameras in a large New York hospital, Sandra Lindsay, intensive care nurse, said with a smile “to feel very good”.
The arrival of the vaccine “means hope, recovery, the return of public health,” said the black woman, “proud to promote confidence in a vaccine” that 39% of Americans said they did not want to take in early December, with a particular mistrust among black and Hispanic minorities.
Other caregivers, especially in Pennsylvania and Iowa, were vaccinated as early as Monday morning.
“History on the Move,” said Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, as he watched the vaccine injected into a Hollywood nurse.
– “The tunnel is long” –
The American vaccination campaign, the largest in its history, is aimed primarily at the most exposed caregivers and retirement homes.
Nearly three million doses must be distributed by Wednesday, with the goal of vaccinating some 20 million Americans by the end of December and 100 million by the end of March.
It begins as the pandemic explodes in the country: more than 300,000 people have died from the disease, the equivalent of the population of the city of Cincinnati, in Ohio.
And officials fear the Americans are letting their guard down.
“It’s light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is long,” warned New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who reiterated he may have to re-confine New York if hospitals are threatened with saturation. .
Well-respected immunologist Anthony Fauci warned that you should expect to have to wear a mask and respect distancing for months to come.
If “we convince people to get vaccinated (..) and we get (collective immunity) at the end of spring, beginning of summer, then by fall we can approach a certain degree. relief () and some form of normalcy, “he told MSNBC.
Canada was the other major country to launch vaccination with the Pfizer / BioNTech antidote on Monday, while Abu Dhabi started injecting with the vaccine from Chinese drug giant Sinopharm.
– Massive screening –
The pandemic is spreading again like wildfire in Europe, where the European Medicines Agency is due to issue an opinion on the authorization of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine by the end of December.
As in the United States, the authorities fear a new push in favor of the Christmas holidays and several countries have announced new containment measures, Germany and the Netherlands in the lead.
In England, a pioneer in the launch of vaccinations, London and certain regions of the south-east were preparing on Monday to go to the third level of alert, with the closure of hotels, pubs and restaurants, due to an “exponential” increase in cases of Covid-19.
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