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NEW YORK — History unfolded Monday as a New York City nurse was given the first COVID-19 vaccination in the United States.

RN Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, volunteered to be the first person to take the COVID-19 vaccine in New York, according to Northwell Health. She has worked on the front lines of the pandemic, caring for COVID-19 patients, since March.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also made an appearance during the vaccination via video conferencing. The governor hailed Lindsay as a hero and said she was the first person in the country to receive the vaccine.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary said the mayor will also head to a New York City hospital on Monday to see “one of the first vaccine shots given to a front-line health care worker.”

The first shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine arrived in New York early Monday morning.

New York is initially expected to get 170,000 doses of the vaccine, which are reserved for health care workers as well as some nursing home residents and staff.

The vaccine’s arrival comes after the Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized an emergency use request from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech.

The first trucks carrying the vaccine for widespread use in the United States pulled out of a Michigan manufacturing plant Sunday morning, setting in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history.

Army Gen. Gustava Perna said Saturday that UPS and FedEx are expected to deliver the vaccine to nearly 150 distribution centers across the states Monday, while an additional 425 sites will get shipments Tuesday, and the remaining 66 on Wednesday.

Initially, about 3 million doses are expected to be shipped nationwide.

The first vaccinations in New York come as the nation nears another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic: the loss of 300,000 lives. As of Monday morning, Johns Hopkins University reported a death toll of more than 299,190.