Vacagen Oral Vaccine Tablets, No. 4534, 20 Enteric-Coated Tablets
date: label: date made
content: ca 1947
name: label: maker
content: Sharp and Dohme
notes: label: Description
content: Vial of 20 Vacogen oral vaccine tablets made by Sharp & Dohme. According to a 1947 advertisement appearing in medical journals, the oral vaccine tablets were "an effective, convenient means of stimulating specific immunity against acute bacterial infections of the upper respiratory tract." The tablets contained "the water-soluble antigenic fractions of approximately 100,000 million organisms": Pneumococcus (50,000 million), Beta hemolytic streptococcus (20, 000 million), Influenza bacillus (10,000 million), M. catarrhalis (5,000 million), and Friedlander bacillus (5, 000 million), Staphylococcus aureus (10,000 million). [advertisement in Southern Medical Journal, January 1947, page 27]
label: Description
content: This object was part of an exhibit on the manufacture and use of biological vaccines for the treatment of smallpox, respiratory infections, influenza, measles, and scarlet fever. Under the direction of the Smithsonian’s curator of medicine, the pharmaceutical company, Sharp & Dohme, designed and produced the exhibit which was installed at the Smithsonian in September 1947. The company became a major U.S. producer of biological products including many vaccines, serums, and antitoxins, after acquiring H. K. Mulford & Company in 1929. The Mulford Company was a pioneer in the commercial development of biologicals in the United States beginning with the production of a diphtheria antitoxin in the mid-1890s.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
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content: The Antibody Initiative
label: See more items in
content: Antibody Initiative: Influenza
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Sharp & Dohme, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.177206.13
label: catalog number
content: 177206.13
label: accession number
content: 177206
objectType: label: Object Name
content: biological
label: Object Name
content: vaccine, respiratory infections, bacterial
label: Other Terms
content: Vaccines; Biologicals; Drugs
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/4 in x 1 in; x 5.715 cm x 2.54 cm