Sandra Lindsay, The Jamaican Nurse Who Was First to Be Vaccinated against COVID-19 in USA Earns Ph.D.

 Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Dr. Sandra Lindsay

Jamaican Sandra Lindsay, who made history on December 14, 2020, when she was officially cited as the first person in the United States to receive a COVID-19 shot, received her PhD in Health Sciences at the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Mesa, Arizona. Additionally, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in the United States has solidified Sandra Lindsay’s place in history by obtaining the empty Pfizer-BioNtech vial that had contained the COVID-19 vaccine from which she received the first dose administered to anyone in the US. Sandra Lindsay was born in Clarendon and works as a critical care nurse, and her brother Garfield, who is a respiratory therapist in Maryland, also received his PhD in Health Sciences as the siblings graduated together. The duo waved the Jamaican flag with pride as they celebrated their accomplishments.

Sandra Lindsay holds a master’s degree in nursing and an MBA. She decided to pursue the doctorate in Health Sciences with a major in global health, leadership, and organizational behavior so that she could focus on finding solutions to some of “the bigger, systemic issues that make black and Latino people more susceptible to chronic health conditions,” she said.