Smithsonian Acquires Vial From First Covid-19 Vaccine Dose In U.S.

It’s been almost one year since the pandemic began to take hold in the United States, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is commemorating the anniversary with an announcement about a recent addition to its artifacts. The museum has obtained the vial that held the very first dose of Covid-19 vaccine that was given in the United States.

The Smithsonian plans to archive and record the history of the global pandemic and “this extraordinary period we were going through,” according to reporting by the Associated Press. The announcement of the procurement includes other items that correspond with the first dose of the vaccine.

The AP reported that its journalists were shown a special behind-the-scenes view of “the newly obtained materials, which include vials, special shipping equipment and the medical scrubs and ID badge of the New York City nurse who was America’s first coronavirus vaccine recipient.”

Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse, was the first person in the U.S. to receive a dose of the coronavirus vaccine on December 14, 2020. Lindsay is a black woman and she said at the time that the she wanted to “inspire” people who look like her, “who are skeptical in general about taking vaccines.”

Regarding the wide range of items, the museum’s director, Anthea M. Hartig, said, “We wanted objects that would tell the full story…Everything from the scrubs to the freezer unit that shipped the vaccines.”

While many are scheduling pandemic anniversaries for differing times, the museum chose to use the date of Thursday, March 11. That was the day the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. It also marks the date that many Americans may remember life closing down as the coronavirus began to spread across communities in the United States.

Diane Wendt, a curator in the museum’s medicine and science department, said, “Our broadest mandate was to document this extraordinary period we were going through…We particularly had our eye on vaccine development from the start.”

The museum was not untouched by the closures the pandemic caused, and although it was able to reopen in September after closing on March 13, 2020, it was forced to close its doors again right before Thanksgiving as cases started to rise around the holiday season.

Hartig said that the group of curators was not deterred by the temporary shutdown of the museum. She called her group a “rapid response collecting task force” of people investigating how to remember this important time in the history of the United States.

The Covid-19 artifacts will be in good company in the National Museum of American History. The museum also holds one of the first groups of the polio vaccine that was created by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955, as well as specific medical materials and vaccination documents from that time period.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, donated his pink and blue plastic Covid-19 model to the museum last week to be included in the curation.

The museum’s administrators said that they do not know if the recently garnered coronavirus-themed items will be exhibited right away when the museum reopens in 2021. Their plans include displaying them as part of a larger exhibit next year that teaches visitors about the history of medicine.

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