Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre, became the first person in the US to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on December 14. AP
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre, became the first person in the US to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on December 14. AP
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre, became the first person in the US to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on December 14. AP
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre, became the first person in the US to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on December 14. AP

Smithsonian museum acquires first US Covid-19 vaccine vial for new exhibit


Razmig Bedirian
  • English
  • Arabic

An empty vial that contained the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in the US has been acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.

The vial will be part of a 2022 exhibit at the National Museum of American History, which will explore the US efforts of containing and curing various diseases, including Covid-19.

These now-historic artefacts document not only this remarkable scientific progress but represent the hope offered to millions living through the cascading crises brought on by Covid-19

The acquisition also includes the vaccination card and scrubs of Sandra Lindsay, the New York nurse who became the first person in the US to be vaccinated against Covid-19 when she received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 14.

"These now-historic artefacts document not only this remarkable scientific progress but represent the hope offered to millions living through the cascading crises brought on by Covid-19," Anthea M Hartig, the museum's director, said.

The objects were donated to the museum by Northwell Health, the New York healthcare provider that administered the first doses of the vaccine. Its donations included empty vials of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines as well as the specialised shipping container that transported the vaccine, which was packed in dry ice.

“We wanted objects that would tell the full story,” Ms Hartig said.

The donated items will be part of the museum's large collection of health-related artefacts, which includes the penicillin mould from Alexander Fleming, the original polio vaccine developed in 1955 by Jonas Salk as well as 19th-century patent medicines.

It is not yet clear whether the new acquisitions will be put on display when the museum reopens later this year.

The museum closed on March 13, 2020, and, after briefly reopening again in September, closed again as case numbers in the US began to rise.

The Covid-related items will be showcased in a 2022 exhibit called In Sickness and In Health, which will examine "200 years of medicine in the US including Covid-19".

"Our broadest mandate was to document this extraordinary period we were going through" Diane Wendt, a curator in the museum's medicine and science department, told The Guardian. "We particularly had our eye on vaccine development from the start."

What is Reform?

Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.

It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.

Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.

After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.

Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.

The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.

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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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The details

Colette

Director: Wash Westmoreland

Starring: Keira Knightley, Dominic West

Our take: 3/5

The biog

Marital status: Separated with two young daughters

Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo

Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian

Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness

Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon

Scores

Day 2

New Zealand 153 & 56-1
Pakistan 227

New Zealand trail by 18 runs with nine wickets remaining

Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

Paltan

Producer: JP Films, Zee Studios
Director: JP Dutta
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal, Siddhanth Kapoor, Luv Sinha and Harshvardhan Rane
Rating: 2/5

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Dhadak 2

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri 

Rating: 1/5

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.