Join curators and historians for an engaging series of panels offering perspectives on the current pandemic. Panelists will virtually share objects from the past as a springboard to a lively discussion of how to better understand the present. Audience questions are encouraged and will be addressed in the moderated dialogue. It took nearly 100 years from the first vaccine in 1796 against smallpox to a second vaccine, against rabies, in 1885. By contrast, the past 100 years have seen the development of new vaccines to prevent over 20 diseases. Yet, even with major investments, vaccines often take many years to develop and test. Panelists will discuss vaccine invention, testing, marketing, and distribution from historical perspective and will comment on developments since COVID-19 was first identified in late 2020. Moderator:
Keith Wailoo, PhD, Princeton University Panelists:
Col (Ret) John Grabenstein, PhD, Vaccine Dynamics
Paul Offit, MD, University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Diane Wendt, National Museum of American Histor The National Museum of American History welcomes visitors of all ages and abilities. Real-time captioning (CART) will be provided for online programs. For other questions about accessibility, please email nmahprograms@si.edu. Two weeks’ notice is preferred. |