Jennifer Haller receives the first administration of an mRNA vaccine, made by the biotech firm Moderna, against the pandemic coronavirus.
By Jon CohenScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.The coronavirus that for weeks had been crippling hospitals in her hometown of Seattle changed Jennifer Haller’s life on 16 March—but not because she caught it.
Haller, an operations manager at a tech company in the city, became the first person outside of China to receive an experimental vaccine against the pandemic virus, and in the days since, she has been flooded by an outpouring of gratitude. “There’s been overwhelming positivity, love, and prayers coming at me from strangers around the world,” Haller says. “We all just feel