On Wednesday morning, William Kelley, 62, and Veronica Delgado, 65, became the first healthcare staffers to be vaccinated against coronavirus at Elmhurst hospital, marking the very first vaccinations in New York City's public hospital system.

"It feels like the first bit of sunlight in the morning after a very dark and frightening night," Delgado said afterwards.

She said she felt "very privileged" to be among the first of her colleagues to receive Pfizer's vaccine, which hospitals across the country began distributing on Monday.

At Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Ibbad Yousuf said it was exciting to be the first on the staff to get the long-awaited jab.

"It's a flood of emotions, having lived through what we lived through at the peak of the pandemic," he said. "I think the fear of facing what we faced in the emergency room outweighed any fear from getting the vaccination."

Click "play" to hear Gothamist's Elizabeth Kim's dispatch from Elmhurst hospital, and WNYC health reporter Fred Mogul's dispatch from Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn.