'I couldn't wait': US COVID-19 vaccine reaches more workers on pandemic's front lines

NEWARK, New Jersey: The United States extended its rollout of the first authorised COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday (Dec 15), inoculating healthcare workers as part of a massive campaign to protect all Americans and contain a US outbreak that has killed more than 300,000 people.

Distribution of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE began on Monday, three days after it won US emergency-use authorisation.

On Tuesday, at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, emergency room nurse Maritza Beniquez became the first in that state to receive the vaccine.

"I couldn't wait for this moment to hit New Jersey. I couldn't wait for it to hit the US," Beniquez said upon getting vaccinated with Governor Phil Murphy looking on.

The vaccine was welcomed as a new tool to help contain a virus that killed 301,085 people in the United States and infected 16.5 million as of Monday, according to a Reuters tally of official data.

A second vaccine, from Moderna, appeared set for regulatory authorisation this week as US Food and Drug Administration staff endorsed it as safe and effective in documents released on Tuesday. Similar to the Pfizer vaccine, it requires two doses several weeks apart.

By the end of Monday, shipments of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at nearly all of the 145 US distribution sites pre-selected to receive the initial batch of doses, with a number of major hospital systems launching immunisations immediately.

READ: Teachers should receive COVID-19 vaccine priority: UNICEF

In one of many made-for-TV injections, New York City intensive care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first shot in the arm on Monday, saying "healing is coming" and that, "I want to instil public confidence that the vaccine is safe."

Nurses, doctors and support staff have been given priority as they come into contact with ever more COVID-19 patients, including a record 110,163 who were hospitalised nationwide on Monday.

In Newark, University Hospital President Shereef Elnahal said the arrival of the vaccine brought a measure of relief to Beniquez and other nurses who have shown bravery in treating COVID-19 patients.

"She has been thrusting herself into patient rooms. She's been doing chest compressions when needed. And she told all of us that she no longer has to be afraid to do that life-saving work," Elnahal told CNN. "And by the way, she and so many others in our hospital have been doing it anyway despite being afraid."

Large numbers of Americans have called the pandemic a hoax and rejected public health guidelines to wear masks and avoid crowds. Only 61 per cent of respondents in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were open to getting vaccinated.

While most vaccines take years to develop, the Pfizer vaccine arrived less than a year after the illness was traced to a market in Wuhan, China, in December of last year.

Chinese officials shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus with the World Health Organization on Jan 12, triggering the international race toward a vaccine.

"People understandably are sceptical about the speed, but we have to keep emphasising speed means the science was extraordinary," Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Tuesday.

The pandemic has also inflicted economic pain as states and localities imposed stay-at-home orders and closed businesses, putting millions out of work.

Congress on Monday inched toward passing the first COVID-19 relief bill since April, possibly extending aid to the unemployed, small businesses, and vaccine distribution. The COVID-19 aid could be attached to a critical spending measure that must be passed by Friday to avoid a federal government shutdown.

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