COVID-19 and public health stamp collection

COVID-19 emerged in early December 2019 as cases of "unusual pneumonia" in Wuhan, China. The virus spread and by the end of December the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a public health alert. On January 30, 2020, WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on February 11, 2020, WHO officially named it Corona virus Disease 2019, or COVID-19. The United States declared a National Emergency on March 13, 2020. Philadelphia-area schools closed on March 13, and on March 16 Philadelphia announced a 2-week closure of all non-essential businesses. Philadelphia’s Stay At Home Order was issued on March 22. By March 26, the United States had the highest number of confirmed cases in the world, with New York City as the epicenter. Chinese scientists shared the genetic sequence of the "novel coronavirus" in January 2020 and scientists around the globe soon began working on a vaccine. By December both the Pfizer-BioNTech, and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines received Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and initial doses were administered to healthcare workers and at-risk individuals. Since 2021 the FDA has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (now Comirnaty) to prevent COVID-19 in people aged 12 and older, and the Moderna vaccine (now Spikevax) to prevent it in people aged 18 and older. Both vaccines are authorized for children aged 6 months and up. The FDA has also authorized the Novavax adjuvanted vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in people aged 12 and older. Since December 2020, when the first vaccines were administered, millions of people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. WHO declared an end to the Public Health Emergency of International Concern for COVID-19 on May 5, 2023. WHO acknowledges that new variants may still pose a threat, but that the vaccine and boosters have reduced the death rate and the spread of COVID-19, allowing countries to return to normal. There are people who continue to wear masks in public to protect themselves against COVID-19 and for whom life has not returned to normal.

At the height of the pandemic, many countries issued COVID-19 stamps. These stamps served to signal the government's commitment to fighting the virus, to highlight the work of scientists working on a vaccine, and to honor healthcare and other essential workers.