Denzel Washington and N.Y. nurse Sandra Lindsay to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Washington is honoring Denzel Washington with its top civilian honor.

The actor from Mount Vernon and a New York nurse who kicked off the American vaccination project by receiving the country’s first post-trial shot will each receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House said.

Washington, the inimitable two-time Oscar winner, and Sandra Lindsay, director of critical care nursing at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, will receive their honors next Thursday, according to the White House.

Denzel Washington arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

President Biden is to announce 17 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients — including the New York contingent — on Friday, said Seth Schuster, a spokesman for the White House.

The awards are to be bestowed at the presidential residence. Since President John F. Kennedy’s administration, the White House has handed out the honors to a broad array of distinguished Americans.

Health care worker Sandra Lindsay speaks with the media before a parade honoring COVID-19 pandemic essential workers in New York City on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. Lindsay was the parade’s grand marshal and was the first person in the country to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot. (Ted Shaffrey/AP)

Washington, 67, studied at Fordham University in the city before embarking upon one of American cinema’s most celebrated careers.

He is known for performances in films such as “Fences,” “Philadelphia” and “Malcolm X,” and he scored Academy Awards for “Training Day” and “Glory.”

He also won a Tony Award for a stage version of “Fences.”

FILE – Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP)

Lindsay, 53, of Port Washington, rolled up her sleeve to get jabbed on Dec. 14, 2020, becoming the first person in an often shot-resistant country to receive a fully approved COVID vaccine.

“You saw me, I didn’t even flinch,” Lindsay, who was born in Jamaica, told the Daily News last year. “I was ready for the shot. I just wanted to feel like I have some other level of protection.”

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