The First COVID-19 Vaccine Shipments Have Arrived in the U.S., and People Are Emotional

After almost a year of waiting, the first batches of the COVID-19 vaccine are arriving at hospitals across the country. 

On Monday, December 14—the same day the Electoral College is set to affirm Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States—shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine started arriving by mail following emergency approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Multiple videos have surfaced of these historic deliveries, and people on Twitter are getting emotional. “I’ve watched this five times—may or may not be crying,” one Twitter user wrote regarding a video of Colorado governor Jared Polis accepting a shipment of the vaccine. 

“Forgive the obvious pun, but all the images and videos of vaccines arriving at their distribution points are such an emotional shot in the arm for America,” author S.E. Cupp explained on Twitter. “You can almost feel the wave of relief wash across the country. Help is here.”

“Caught off guard by the hope this moment gave me,” New York Times food correspondent Kim Severson tweeted regarding one of the first Americans to receive the shot.

Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in New York City on December 14. “I’m feeling well. I would like to thank all the frontline workers, all my colleagues who have been doing a yeoman’s job to fight this pandemic all over the world,” she said, per CNN. “I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.”

After a second dose in 21 days, CNN reports that Lindsay “will be able to more safely visit family, friends, colleagues, and patients.” Per The New York Times, Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed on December 14 that most Americans who want the vaccine will probably be able to get it by late March or early April 2021.