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The life expectancy has greatly changed from 1900s to now mainly because of vaccines and advancements in medical technology

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I thought it was interesting to see how much longer life expectancy is today.

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I thought it was interesting how variolation techniques only took off after Lady Mary Montague introduced it, not when it was seen as a “foreign” technique.

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Variolation was the beginning of health equality in human history.

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I thought it was interesting that variolation was developed in multiple regions around the world, all at different times, before it ever reached the United States.

I also find it interesting that perception of vaccines (in terms of trust) depends on who is sharing the information, e.g. royalty or others.

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Never looked at vaccines having such a big impact on life expectancy and longevity.

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I found it interesting that people had much anti variolation views due to the fact that people of lower social standings were doing it. It wasn’t until people who were “higher up” in society began to promote it where the general public became more accepting of variolation.

It was also interesting to see how those who were able to get variolated vs not was one of the origins of health inequality in our world.

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It was very interesting to see the impact of vaccines on life expectancy and how much that has increased over even just the past 100 years. It really gave me an increased appreciation for vaccines available now so easily that many people in the past did not have access to and died from, all being not really that long in the past at the end of the day.

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Thomas Jefferson experimented with vaccination and believed in the efficacy of vaccines. However, he tested vaccinations on people he enslaved.

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I thought it was interesting to learn how modern day mistrust of vaccines has historical roots and the global collaborations and initiatives that led to the eradication of smallpox.

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I found this documentary very interesting, specifically the history of the vaccine distribution process for smallpox. The freeze drying solution that enabled the vaccine to be distributed in areas other than major cities as well as the final ring vaccination strategy was very innovative.

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I thought it was interesting learning about the history of how the first vaccine was created.

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I thought the clear link between the creation/implementation of variation, and later vaccines, and the start of modern health inequality was fascinating. I knew, to some extent, that there was a link, having learned a bit about Jenner and Jefferson’s experiments before, but the video also talked about how the gap in life expectancy between the rich and the poor in England grew tremendously with vaccinations which was really interesting.

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I always knew that it was a fact that people today lived longer but I thought it was more of evolutionary stuff same with people getting taller so I was somewhat surprised to see that it is because of the vaccines and medical breakthroughs.

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Listening about the debates that happen regarding mandated vaccinations, we lived in a time with COVID and hearing about the smallpox vaccination also having the same controversy between individual rights and public health was a way to put the video into perspective of our own times. The video put into perspective much of what was going on during Covid-19 especially when taking into account the Global level and its importance in collaborating with other countries in a way of bettering/helping public health.

Paige Peters

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the power dynamics going into variolation trials was very interesting. Especially between the president and unconsenting slaves. Just shows how even the medical world has a past that engrained in inequality

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I thought it was interesting how avoidant people in the US were about variolation due to the technique being introduced from Africa, despite the visible benefits of the procedure.

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I found it very interesting that the role of the royal family was very significant in determining the amount of vaccines being dispersed and their relative acceptance among the community. Although the film really supported this idea, Minardi’s reading rejected it to some extent.

I was also quite shocked to learn about the history of vaccines, and royal members in Britain as well as others in the United States, such as Thomas Jefferson experimenting with variolation and vaccines on peasants and slaves before moving onto the greater population. With this in mind, it’s important to remember this history that comes with medical progress.

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I thought it was interesting that people were not interested in inoculation and variolation until they saw the elite doing it. I thought it spoke to the overall mistrust people had of the medicine, but the blind trust they had in the elite. I also found it interesting that there are similar patterns between anti-vaxxers today and those who were skeptical of inoculation (going to show many people’s distrust comes from their anxieties and lack of proper information).

Overall, I really enjoyed the episode and felt I learned a lot about the early history of vaccines and the eradication of polio.

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I thought about the power dynamics occurring during the variolation trials. Especially between the president and his unconsenting slaves. Just shows how the medical field is even engrained in inequality

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I thought it was very eye opening to see how vaccine testing was done around the time of the creation of the smallpox vaccine compared to how it is done now. Also found it incredible that people were able to come up with such innovative successful ideas on how to create such vaccines without really having any knowledge on how why it works.