The Smithsonian Institution has received a collection of rare items commemorating the beginning of the U.S. effort to inoculate Americans against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
A vial that held the first known doses of FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine to be administered in the U.S. is among the items recently acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
The vial and other objects were donated to the museum by Northwell Health, a New York-based health provider that administered the nation’s first known doses of a federally-approved COVID-19 vaccine.
Northwell also donated the vaccination record card, scrubs and hospital badge worn by Sandra Lindsay, an intensive-care nurse and the first person known to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.
Ms. Lindsay received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 14, less than a year after the first cases of the coronavirus were reported in Wuhan, China, and quickly ravaged countries around the world.
“It was our first real sign of hope after so many dark months in the fight against the global pandemic,” recalled Michael Dowling, Northwell’s president and CEO.”
“Northwell was prepared to put shots in arms as soon as the vaccine arrived, not to make history but to protect our front-line workers battling COVID-19 as quickly as possible,” Mr. Dowling said in a statement. “But when Sandra Lindsay rolled up her sleeve, we weren’t just showing our team members the safety and efficacy of this groundbreaking vaccine — we were telling the world that our country was beginning a new fight back to normalcy. It was an extraordinary moment, and I thank the Smithsonian for preserving this important milestone.”
The Smithsonian announced the acquisition Tuesday, two days shy of the anniversary of the World Health Organization having designated the COVID-19 outbreak as a full-fledged pandemic.
President Biden is expected to speak on the anniversary Thursday evening.
The Smithsonian shuttered its museums in March 2020 in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and its website currently says that all remain closed as a public health precaution because of COVID-19.
Artifacts related to the coronavirus pandemic will be brought into the museum once it returns to full operation, the Smithsonian said in a press release.
Millions of people worldwide have died from COVID-19 since last year, but recent advancements in the development and distribution of vaccines have made the end of the pandemic seemingly closer than ever.
More than 98 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S. since Ms. Lindsay received the first dose less than three months ago.
Comparatively, 29 million Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak, according to Johns Hopkins University, which puts the disease’s U.S. death toll at near 530,000.
“The urgent need for effective vaccines in the U.S. was met with unprecedented speed and emergency review and approval,” said Anthea M. Hartig of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. “These now historic artifacts document not only this remarkable scientific progress but represent the hope offered to millions living through the cascading crises brought on by COVID-19.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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