I Am Vaccinated Sticker, Washington D.C.
date: label: date made
content: 2020
notes: label: Description
content: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic. In the wake of this declaration, the federal government and pharmaceutical industry invested heavily in research for a vaccine. On December 11, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. Seven days later, on December 18, 2020, the NIH-Moderna vaccine was authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use. Both drugs required a double dose, with the second shot usually being scheduled between 3 to 6 weeks after the first dose.
label: Description
content: While many Americans rushed to be vaccinated against COVID-19, sometimes spending hours online to obtain an appointment and traveling long distances to receive the shot, others resisted vaccination. After receiving their first and second vaccine, many of those who were vaccinated received stickers announcing their vaccination status.
label: Description
content: Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans were often eager to demonstrate their vaccination status. Many believed that sharing their vaccination status would encourage others to be vaccinated. But some vaccinated Americans have also shared their vaccination status as a political statement.
label: Description
content: This set of four stickers was given to Kathryn Gansler, a resident of the Mount Vernon neighborhood in Washington DC. As a resident of Mount Vernon which had been prioritized for vaccination, Gansler had the opportunity to be vaccinated early. But like many of the city’s residents, she struggled to get an appointment as the city’s online scheduling portal repeatedly crashed. Ultimately, she was able to schedule her appointment for March 3, 2020, the first day vaccination appointments were available in Washington DC.
label: Description
content: She received her first dose of the Moderna vaccine at the Safeway in Mount Vernon. Gansler noted that “I was so excited to get the shot that I was shaking in my seat – the pharmacist literally had to hold my arm steady.” After she received her shot, the pharmacist handed her these four stickers. Gansler noted that “Most people I saw in line for the COVID vaccines were white even though my neighborhood is majority Black. Looking at these stickers I think…about how the disparity I saw on that first day is a microcosm of my city. It also was impossible to ignore the more than 500,000 people who had already succumbed to COVID-19 by that point and never got a chance to get their shot.”
label: Description
content: Vaccination has always been contested in the United States but throughout the spring and summer of 2021, vaccination became sharply politicized. For many, vaccination stickers made a strong political statement in a deeply polarized nation. But the stickers Gansler received are also part of a long tradition of documenting one’s vaccination status.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: associated subject
content: 2019 novel coronavirus disease
label: associated subject
content: Infectious diseases
label: associated subject
content: COVID-19 (Disease)
label: associated subject
content: Public Health
label: associated subject
content: 2019-nCoV disease
label: associated subject
content: Disease prevention
label: related event
content: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Kathryn Gansler in memory of Cynthia Chatterjee
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2021.0202.03
label: catalog number
content: 2021.0202.03
label: accession number
content: 2021.0202
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sticker
label: Object Type
content: Sticker
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper, plastic (?) (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 in; 5.08 cm