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Vaccination affects you, your family, and your community. You have an ethical responsibility to get vaccinated and vaccinate your children, if eligible, to do your part to end this pandemic. The accurate and trusted information found here will help you discuss the vaccines with your family, friends, and community.

Vaccines & US was created through a collaboration of the Smithsonian with cultural organizations in communities across the nation. Through Vaccines & US, we hope to build understanding of our current moment, where we've been, and where we go from here.

Have questions? Contact us at VaccinesAndUS@si.edu.
Learn more about our purpose and who we are "

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Vaccines and US | Smithsonian Institution

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Vaccination affects you, your family, and your community. You have an ethical responsibility to get vaccinated and vaccinate your children, if eligible, to do your part to end this pandemic. The accurate and trusted information found here will help you discuss the vaccines with your family, friends, and community.

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You have the unique opportunity to learn about the scientific exploration happening right now in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-developed with experts in virology, epidemiology, agent-based modeling, and public health preparedness, this introductory course allows middle and high school students to learn about COVID-19 through the lenses of three distinct scientific fields. Not a student? No problem, anyone can register for this free course!

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You have the unique opportunity to learn about the scientific exploration happening right now in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-developed with experts in virology, epidemiology, agent-based modeling, and public health preparedness, this introductory course allows middle and high school students to learn about COVID-19 through the lenses of three distinct scientific fields. Not a student? No problem, can register for this free course!

We have a lot to cover, so let's get started!

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You have the unique opportunity to learn about the scientific exploration happening right now in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-developed with experts in virology, epidemiology, agent-based modeling, and public health preparedness, this introductory course allows middle and high school students to learn about COVID-19 through the lenses of three distinct scientific fields.

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Free Online Learning Toolbox – COVID-19 Virus Science and more | Exploratorium

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Free Online Learning Toolbox – COVID-19 Virus Science and more | Exploratorium

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Viruses can't be seen with a light microscope (see How Big is a Virus?). Currently, the primary way to confirm that someone is infected with coronavirus is to test their cells for viral gene sequences. The Secret Codon Science Snack shows how any message can be written with the four letters that make up the gene sequences that are the code of life. Tests to detect antibodies to the coronavirus in people's blood are also in active development. The presence of coronavirus antibodies would indicate that someone has been infected in the past, even if they've recovered.

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Viruses can't be seen with a light microscope (see How Big is a Virus?). Currently, the primary way to confirm that someone is infected with coronavirus is to test their cells for viral gene sequences. The Secret Codon Science Snack shows how any message can be written with the four letters that make up the gene sequences that are the code of life.

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This three-part animation series explores the biology of the virus SARS-CoV-2, which has caused a global pandemic of the disease COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 is part of a family of viruses called coronaviruses. The first animation, Infection, describes the structure of coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 and how they infect humans and replicate inside cells. The second animation, Evolution, describes how these viruses evolve and discusses positive, negative, and neutral mutations. The third animation, Detection, describes the methods used to detect active and past SARS-CoV-2 infections. These animations are also available in a YouTube playlist.

The accompanying "Student Worksheets" incorporate concepts and information from the animations. The "Version 1" worksheet is appropriate for general high school biology students, and the "Version 2" worksheet is appropriate for AP/IB Biology and undergraduate students.

The "Resource Google Folder" link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as "View Only"; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → "Make a copy." These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the "Details" section below, including crediting BioInteractive.

An audio descriptive version of the animation is available via our media player by clicking the "AD" button in the lower left hand corner of the media player.

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This three-part animation series explores the biology of the virus SARS-CoV-2, which has caused a global pandemic of the disease COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 is part of a family of viruses called coronaviruses. The first animation, Infection, describes the structure of coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 and how they infect humans and replicate inside cells.

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coronavirus | Lesson Plan | PBS NewsHour Extra

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coronavirus | Lesson Plan | PBS NewsHour Extra

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coronavirus | Lesson Plan | PBS NewsHour Extra

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In this NewsHour lesson, learn how your students can create prototypes of personal protective equipment, including face shields.

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Why do we all have to stay home? Secondary Version Collection | NSTA

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Why do we all have to stay home? Secondary Version Collection | NSTA

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Why do we all have to stay home? Secondary Version Collection

PUBLIC

5 items

With the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the news every day - and becoming increasingly sensationalized - your students are likely to have questions and concerns about their own health and safety and that of their family and local community. What better place to ask those questions and investigate how the coronavirus works (i.e., how the it makes us sick, how it is spread, how we can protect ourselves) than the science classroom? Review this NSTA collection to find a new secondary science lesson and additional resources for translating the coronavirus (COVID-19) from a news story to a phenomenon-driven, three-dimensional lesson opportunity.

Postsecondary High School Informal Education Middle School Life Science

Resources in "Why do we all have to stay home? Secondary Version" Collection

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Why do we all have to stay home? Secondary Version Collection | NSTA

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PUBLIC 5 items With the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the news every day - and becoming increasingly sensationalized - your students are likely to have questions and concerns about their own health and safety and that of their family and local community.

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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Covid-19 Lesson Plans

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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Covid-19 Lesson Plans

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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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Lesson Plans: Examining Risk Factors Associated With COVID-19 Using the Pandemic Vulnerability Index

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Educational Materials Overview

COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has caused unprecedented disruption to billions of human lives. To help high school (grades 9-12) students learn more about this disease, NIEHS developed a curriculum designed to guide students as they explore various risk factors involved in COVID-19 spread and its resulting mortality, including biological, socio-economic, and environmental factors.

There are many factors involved in the emergence of new infectious diseases or the re-emergence of "old" infectious diseases. While some factors result from natural processes such as the evolution of pathogens over time, many are results of human behavior and practices. In addition, many emerging infectious diseases arise when infectious agents in animals are passed to humans (referred to as zoonoses). As human populations expand into new geographical regions, the possibility increases that humans will come into close contact with animal species that are potential hosts of an infectious agent.

Why Did NIEHS Develop This Curriculum?

Theme two of the NIEHS Strategic Plan 2018-2023 states, "The NIEHS mission directive on information recognizes that the value of Advancing Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) knowledge can only be fully realized through its use by the public, health providers, regulators, and policy holders, to help inform their decisions."

NIEHS engages in establishing strong lines of communication and partnerships with community members; educational outreach has been an integral part of this effort. In addition, NIEHS remains committed to uncovering the exposure burdens that combine with other social determinants of health to create health disparities, such as age, gender, education, race, and income.

What Is the Curriculum?

The Pandemic Vulnerability Index (PVI), freely available on this website, is an epidemiological model developed by researchers at NIEHS, North Carolina State University, and Texas A&M University. This model is the basis for the lesson plans.

In working with the PVI model, students can practice these Next Generation Science Standards:

Dimension 1 - Scientific and Engineering Practices

Dimension 2 - Crosscutting Concepts

This COVID-19 risk factor curriculum [ COVID-19 Lesson Plan Introduction (756KB) , COVID-19 Lesson Plan 1 (898KB) , COVID-19 Lesson Plan 2 (1MB) ] uses the PVI as a model to examine vulnerability to the disease at the county level from multiple perspectives, including infection rate, intervention measures such as social distancing, testing, and social determinants, such as health disparities associated with race and socioeconomic status.

Curriculum Goals

1. Provide a tool for students to examine the spread and health outcomes of a pandemic.

2. Promote students' awareness of the impact of various factors (biological, social, behavioral, etc.) on the spread and outcomes (such as death or recovery from) of an infectious disease.

3. Assist in the development of prevention and intervention strategies to minimize or avoid exposures to risk factors and their adverse health impacts.

Alignment With Next Generation Science Standards

This curriculum integrates multiple science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts as described in the Next Generation Science Standards:

Develop and use models.

Use mathematics and computational thinking.

Analyze and interpret data.

Construct explanations (for science) and design solutions (for engineering).

Units Included in This Curriculum

Social determinants of health and COVID-19, Part I: Social determinants.

Social determinants of health and COVID-19, Part II: Environmental determinants.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this curriculum, students should be able to:

Describe what a mathematical model is and the purpose of using it.

Examine the social factors that contribute to the spread of an infectious disease.

Analyze the environmental factors that contribute to the spread of an infectious disease.

Suggest intervention strategies to mitigate the impact of an infectious disease on public health.

Disclaimer
These educational materials are the work product of an employee or group of employees of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), however, the statements, opinions or conclusions contained therein do not necessarily represent the statements, opinions or conclusions of the NIH, its component institutes and centers, or the United States government. The authors declare they have no actual or potential competing financial interests. These materials are in the public domain and may be used and adapted freely.

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COVID-19 PVI Lesson Plans - Lesson Plans: Examining Risk Factors Associated With COVID-19 Using the Pandemic Vulnerability Index

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Webcasts and videos will not work. Visit this guide for steps on enabling JavaScript. COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has caused unprecedented disruption to billions of human lives.

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A Comic Just For Kids: How To Stay Safe From The Coronavirus

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A Comic Just For Kids: How To Stay Safe From The Coronavirus

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Kids, this comic is just for you.

The coronavirus pandemic started in March and in many countries, thousands and thousands of people are getting sick. You may have questions about what exactly this virus is - and how to stay safe. Here are some answers.

Print and fold a zine version of this comic here. Here are directions on how to fold it.

This comic is based on interviews conducted by NPR's Cory Turner with Tara Powell at the University of Illinois School of Social Work, Joy Osofsky at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Krystal Lewis at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown's School of Public Health and Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop.

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A Comic Just For Kids: How To Stay Safe From The Coronavirus

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Kids, this comic is just for you. The coronavirus pandemic started in March and in many countries, thousands and thousands of people are getting sick. You may have questions about what exactly this virus is - and how to stay safe. Here are some answers. Print and fold a zine version of this comic here.

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What is a virus?

A virus is an incredibly small biological agent capable of infecting animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi. The typical virus is approximately 1/10 the size of a single bacteria and 1/100 to 1/1000 the size of a human cell.

Although there are many different types of viruses (see below), most are made up of the same basic parts which include:

Genetic material - This can be in the form of DNA or RNA. Human cells also contain genetic material in the form of DNA. RNA is a special type of genetic material that can be used to quickly make proteins.

Capsule - The genetic material is surrounded by a capsule made out of specialized virus proteins.

Envelope - Some viruses have an extra layer outside of their capsule called an envelope. The envelop is made out of fat (lipids) and specialized virus proteins. Another name for the envelope is membrane.

The combination of the genetic material surrounded by a capsule is called the viral particle.

Is a virus alive?

Most scientists do not consider viruses to be alive. That is because they are not able to reproduce or carry on the normal functions of life (metabolism) without first infecting another organism that is alive (such as a bacteria, plant, or animal). However, some people believe that because viruses have their own genetic material, they should be considered a simple (and very small) form of life. Because a virus is not technically alive, they also cannot be killed. Instead, they are rendered inactive by products such as soap, alcohol, and bleach.

How do viruses enter the body?

There are four ways for a virus to enter the human body. The way a virus enters the body will determine how it spreads, how quickly it spreads, and who is most likely to become infected.

Inhaled droplets

Droplets are produced when people who are already infected with the virus and contagious cough or sneeze. Once in the air, the virus filled droplets can enter another person body through their nose or mouth. Droplets can also land on the surface of an object and be transferred to the nose, mouth, or eyes by hand.

Viruses that spread through droplets often effect the nose, throat, and lungs with symptoms that include nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, and difficultly breathing.

Diseases caused by viruses spread through droplets include COVID - 19, SARS, influenza, and the common cold.

Food or water

Humans can become infected by a virus in contaminated food or water. The virus enters the body through the stomach or bowels when the contaminated food or water is swallowed. Viruses spread through food or water often affect the gastrointestinal tract and cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Diseases caused by viruses in contaminated food or water include viral gastroenteritis and hepatitis.

Direct transfer

Some viruses need to move directly from one person to another in order to spread. These viruses are typically spread by blood, sexual contact, or from mother to child at the time of birth.

Diseases caused by viruses spread by direct transfer include hepatitis, HIV, and herpes.

Bites from insects

Some viruses are spread by insects. The insects are called carriers because they carry viruses inside their body but are not harmed by the virus. Humans become infected when they are bitten by an insect carrying the virus. Most of the viruses in this group are found in warm climates where insects are found all year long.

Diseases caused by viruses spread by bites from insects include West Nile disease and yellow fever.

What happens after a cell is infected by a virus?

Once a virus enters the body, it needs to get inside of a cell before it can create new copies of itself and spread. The types of proteins on the capsule or envelope determine which types of cells the virus can enter. For example, some viruses can only enter cells in the respiratory tract while other can only enter cells in the gastrointestinal tract. The ability of a virus to attach and enter only certain types of cells is called "tropism".

Attachment - Once the virus gets into the body and finds its target cell, it attaches itself to the surface of the cell using the specialized proteins found on the capsule or envelope. The viral proteins stick to another type of protein on the outside surface of the cell called a receptor. The types of cells that make a receptor determine the tropism of a virus.

Entry - After the virus sticks to the receptor on the surface of the cell, it is brought inside the body of the cell and is released from the receptor.

Replication - Once inside the cell, the virus uses the machinery of the cell (the proteins normally found inside the cell) to create new viral genetic material and specialized viral proteins. A virus must be inside a cell to make new genetic material or proteins.

Assembly - New viral particles are then made out of the genetic material and proteins made during the replication step. A cell infected by a single virus can produce thousands of new viral particles.

Release - Once the new viral particles are assembled, they need to leave the cell so that they can infect other cells. Some viruses leave the cell by causing the cell to explode. This kills the cell while releasing all of the virus particles at the same time. Viruses that require an envelope attach to the wall of the cell (the membrane) and take some of the wall with them as they leave the cell. This is called budding. Some viruses can remain in a cell for months or even years before producing new virus and leaving the cell.

Are there different types of viruses?

Yes, there are many different types of viruses and they are organized into groups called families. The members of a virus family share genetic material (just like members of a human family share DNA)

The table below lists some of the most common virus families and the diseases associated with those families.

What does it mean when people say someone is contagious?

A person who is contagious is infected with a virus and able to spread the virus to other people. In order for this to happen, the infected person's body must be making and releasing new viral particles. When this occurs in the course of a disease is depends on the type of virus being produced.

For example, most viruses that effect the nose, throat, and lungs (respiratory tract) cause a person to be highly contagious for a relatively short period of time at the beginning of the disease. In contrast, many blood borne or direct contact viruses can stay in the body and cause the person to be contagious for many years.

A common misconception is that a person needs to be showing symptoms of the disease in order to be contagious. This is not true. For many types of viruses, the infected person is contagious well before symptoms start.

The opposite is also true. For many types of viruses, a person stops being contagious before the symptoms go away fully. That is because the body continues to show signs of the disease well after the last virus has been inactivated.

Other helpful resources
Center for Disease Control and Prevention World Health Organization Coronavirus Resource Centre - Harvard Health

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Virus | Pathology dictionary | MyPathologyReport.ca

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What is a virus? A virus is an incredibly small biological agent capable of infecting animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi. The typical virus is approximately 1/10 the size of a single bacteria and 1/100 to 1/1000 the size of a human cell.

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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | CDC

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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | CDC

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Coronavirus Update (Live): 132,999,130 Cases and 2,885,128 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

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Coronavirus Update (Live): 132,999,130 Cases and 2,885,128 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

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COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

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Daily and weekly updated statistics tracking the number of COVID-19 cases, recovered, and deaths. Historical data with cumulative charts, graphs, and updates.

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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - World Health Organization

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Information on COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus.