HERO // I am vaccinated
date: label: date made
content: 2020
label: associated date
content: 09-03-2021
name: label: maker
content: Berkel, Brandon
label: maker
content: Perrault, Molly
label: maker
content: Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities
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 some Americans resisted vaccination, many rushed to be vaccinated against COVID-19, sometimes spending hours online to obtain an appointment and traveling long distances to receive the shot. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinated Americans were often eager to demonstrate that they had chosen to be vaccinated. Many believed that sharing their vaccination status would encourage others to be vaccinated; others shared their vaccination status as a political statement.
label: Description
content: With the exception of smallpox vaccination which leaves a scar, demonstrating one’s vaccination status can be difficult, if not impossible. To address this need, some pharmaceutical companies began issuing pins stating “I am Vaccinated” during the early twentieth century. Before and even after the development of self-adhesive stickers in the 1930s, people wore pins of this type to announce their vaccination status. With COVID-19, vaccination centers across the U.S. built on this tradition, distributing vaccination stickers along with pins which identified the wearer’s vaccination status.
label: Description
content: Karthika Sasikumar, a professor of political science at San Jose State University, received the Santa Clara HERO sticker when she got her first dose of COVID vaccine at the Valley Health Center on Tully Road, San Jose on March 9, 2021. She shared her vaccination status on Facebook on that day.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: California, San Jose
topic: label: commemorated; general subject association; used; web subject
content: Vaccination
label: general subject association; used; web subject
content: COVID-19 (Disease)
label: general subject association; used; web subject
content: Public Health
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: Karthika Sasikumar
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0059.01
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0059.01
label: accession number
content: 2022.0059
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sticker
label: Object Type
content: Sticker
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic; paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in; 7.62 cm