The vial and needle used to give the first ever Covid-19 vaccine
(Picture: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum)An Evening Standard billboard announcing the first confirmed cases of Covid in the UK will feature in a new Science Museum exhibition.
The curator of the show, about the development of the vaccine, said she picked up the advertising bill in the early stages of the pandemic before lockdown in March 2020.
Natasha McEnroe, Keeper of Medicine at the museum, said it was included because it “captures an historic moment”.
It is one of around 100 objects in the exhibition which also includes the vial and syringe used to give the world’s first Covid vaccine to Margaret Keenan on December 8, 2020 as well other memorabilia and artwork inspired by the pandemic.
Ms McEnroe said: “One of the things we want to do is situate people when they come into the exhibition and say when the pandemic started and that was a significant moment in history and we felt the Evening Standard billboard was an item that did just that.
“It is such an ordinary object, you know we all know newspaper billboards, every Londoner knows the Evening Standard billboards in particular, and it was something that was everyday but still really captures an historic moment in time.”
She said the vial and needle used for the first vaccinartion were the “star objects” of the show.
She said: “The Medical Director of the NHS at the time literally saved it for us and popped it in his bicycle pannier where it stayed for a little while and we met up at the museum one weekned and he handed it over.
“It was an amazing moment for me, professionally it was one of the moments of my career.”
Ms McEnroe said she hoped the exhibition would be relevant to as wide as audience as possible, adding: “The history of medicince and contempory medicine appeals to people as a subject because it is relatable to all of us. We all have our own history of medicine, we are all interested in our health and the health of our loved ones so it is relevant.”
:: Injecting Hope. The race for a Covid-19 vaccine runs from November 30 to January 7.
