Globe and Mail: How lessons from the past can help shape future health outcomes
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Globe and Mail: How lessons from the past can help shape future health outcomes

That’s where the Museum of Health Care aims to make a contribution. “Our objects can tell a million stories, not just about vaccines but also about vaccine hesitancy,” says Ms. McGowan. “A lot of the discussion that was the backlash against the smallpox vaccine, for example, is not that different from what you hear today. It is really interesting to see this continuity.” The question then becomes what lessons we are willing to learn, and Ms. McGowan believes that seeing an iron lung, a smallpox vaccination certificate or a poster about wearing a mask during the 1918-19 influenza epidemic can provide an extra incentive for seeking out valid evidence.

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From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination:  The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox
Students, Interns and ... Museum of Health Care Students, Interns and ... Museum of Health Care

From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination: The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox

Edward Jenner looms large in the history of vaccination.  Known today as the “father of immunology,” Jenner is most famous for developing a vaccine against smallpox in the 1790s.  The vaccine brilliantly made use of common knowledge.  Milkmaids were known for having noticeably clear and smooth skin.  They had, it seemed, managed to develop an immunity to smallpox by suffering (and surviving) a bout of the much milder cowpox.

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Vaccines and Immunization: Epidemics, Prevention, and Canadian Innovation
Ex crypta: The Curator..., Exhibitions & Gall... Museum of Health Care Ex crypta: The Curator..., Exhibitions & Gall... Museum of Health Care

Vaccines and Immunization: Epidemics, Prevention, and Canadian Innovation

There is significant public debate over the merits and risk of vaccinations, much of which is fueled by inflammatory rhetoric rather than facts and science.  This debate has raged ever since the first vaccine for smallpox was proposed by Dr. Edward Jenner in the 1790s and, doubtless, it will continue as new vaccines are developed. 

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