Sandra Lindsay set the tone: first American to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, Monday March 14, this New York nurse was delighted to “To see the beginning of the end of a painful period for the country” ; but the health professional, specializing in intensive care, immediately warned against relaxing preventive measures. “You have to wear a mask and respect physical distancing”, the 52-year-old African-American insisted in front of the television cameras summoned to the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, a hospital on the front lines during the spring wave.
His warning took on special resonance throughout the day. Monday ended with a new record: the United States passed the 300,000 dead mark. For several weeks, the daily average of deaths has risen to 2,500 victims and more than 200,000 contaminations; 110,000 patients are in intensive care, exerting unprecedented pressure on many hospitals in the country.
Faced with this rebound, widespread throughout the territory and variously fought by the local authorities, the vaccine was all the more expected since it had been promised by Donald Trump for the beginning of the fall, before the election of November 3 . The launch of the vaccination campaign, which should reach 3 million people in the coming days, was greeted on Twitter on Monday by the outgoing president: “Congratulations to the United States; congratulations to the world ”. A final interference from Mr. Trump on Friday sped up the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine by a few hours.
Anticipating this step, the American president had, a few days earlier, partly attributed the success of the scientists, who achieved their objective in record time. “Whether you like Donald Trump or not, this is one of the greatest miracles in the history of modern medicine,” the president had estimated.
Private public partnership
Reluctant since the start of the pandemic to impose restrictive measures such as physical distancing or wearing a mask, Mr. Trump preferred to bet on the vaccine to fight the disease. Under his aegis, the country launched Operation Warp Speed in May 2020, a public-private partnership program set up in a few weeks and funded to the tune of 14 billion dollars (11.5 billion euros). Intended to encourage companies to invest in research, it helped accelerate the discovery and distribution of a vaccine.
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