Photos: The United States begins Covid-19 vaccinations

The biggest vaccination campaign in the history of the United States kicked off on December 14 as health workers rolled up their sleeves for shots to protect them from Covid-19. Precious frozen vials of the vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech reached hospitals across the country, ushering a day of optimism even as the nation's death toll closed rose past 300,000. For health care workers, who along with nursing home residents will be first in line for vaccination, hope is tempered by grief and the exhaustion of months spent battling a coronavirus that still is surging nationally and around the world.

Updated on: Dec 15, 2020 6:05 PM IST

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Sandra Lindsay (L), a nurse, is inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, on December 14, in New York. The rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved by the Unites States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ushered in the biggest vaccination effort in US history on December 14. (Mark Lennihan / Pool / AFP)

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Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant on December 13.The vaccine began leaving the company's Michigan factory, ready to be injected into the arms of millions of the most vulnerable Americans as the global death toll topped 1.6 million. (Morry Gash / Pool / AFP)

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FedEx employees wave as a plane filled with Covid-19 vaccines departs from an undisclosed city to various destinations on December 14. Some 145 sites around the United States, from Rhode Island to Alaska, have received shipments, with more deliveries set for the coming days. High-risk health care workers and nursing home residents are first in line for inoculation. (FedEX / AFP)

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Pharmacy Director Dana Rucco (C), shows Medical Director Richard Schwarz a container used to deliver the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York on December 14. The vaccination campaign began the same day the US death toll from the outbreak crossed the 300,000 threshold, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. (Mark Lennihan / AP / Bloomberg)

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Dr Michelle Chester from Northwell Health prepares to administer the coronavirus vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York on December 14. The nearly 3 million doses now being shipped are just a down payment on the amount needed. More of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will arrive each week. And later this week, the FDA will decide whether to approve the vaccine candidate made by Moderna Inc. (Brendan Mcdermid / REUTERS)

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Members of the media are seen as Dr Yves Duroseau from Lennox Hill Hospital is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in New York on December 14. While the US hopes for enough of both vaccines together to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the month, and 30 million more in January, there won’t be enough for the average person to get a shot until spring, AP reported. (Brendan Mcdermid / REUTERS)

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Mercy Hospital South staff applaud and cheer after watching a doctor receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the St. Louis Region at the hospital in St. Louis County on December 14. The vaccine was cleared for emergency use last week before a final study in nearly 44,000 people was complete. (Cheyenne Boone / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

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Medical staff wait in a holding room after receiving he Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles on December 14. Research on the vaccine is continuing to try to answer additional questions. For example, while the vaccine is effective at preventing Covid-19 illness, it is not clear if it will stop the symptomless spread that accounts for half of all cases. (Jae C. Hong / AP)