Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley
date: label: date made
content: 2021
label: used date
content: 01-2022
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: In January, 2022, Karthika Sasikumar took her son to receive his booster shot. They went to the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara to receive this shot. The health center dates its origins to 1970 when the United American Indians of Santa Clara reorganized to become a community-based center, serving American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the Santa Clara region. In 1975, the community center added a small health unit, with community health workers providing prenatal nutrition and parenting education services. In 1977, the use of funds from Title V enabled the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley (IHC) to become a separate health-care non-profit serving the needs of American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the Santa Clara Valley. In January of 2022, the health center, like many pharmacies and clinics, offered boosters to anyone on a walk-in basis and Sasikumar brought her son there to receive his booster. Although she noted “my son was too old to want a sticker,” she picked up a sticker for “posterity’s sake.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: California, Santa Clara
topic: label: general subject association; web subject; commemorated
content: Vaccination
label: general subject association; web subject
content: Public Health
label: general subject association; web subject
content: Pediatrics
label: general subject association; web subject
content: COVID-19 (Disease)
label: associated subject
content: 2019 novel coronavirus disease
label: associated subject
content: Infectious diseases
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: Karthika Sasikumar
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0059.02
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0059.02
label: accession number
content: 2022.0059
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sticker
label: Object Type
content: Sticker
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper; plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall (including paper backing): 3 5/16 in x 3 1/8 in; 8.41375 cm x 7.9375 cm