The California Endowment

History of Vaccinations Animation

Onesimus. It is a name we don’t hear when we look at the history of vaccinations, but in the United States we owe a debt of gratitude to an enslaved African named Onesimus. For this film, which is voiced by writer and political activist, Baratunde Thurston, we used 2D and 3D animations to explore the story of Onesimus and how he used a traditional African noculation technique that saved countless lives from Smallpox, which become the foundation for vaccine as we know them today, including the COVID vaccine.

Approach

We created original 2D illustrations of historical events involving Onesimus and  juxtaposed them against 3D animations of contemporary medicine to highlight Onesimus’s centuries-long impact.

Impact

This film was used as part of The California Endowment’s “Roll Up Your Sleeve” campaign as well as their Juneteenth promotional efforts and was heavily featured on TCE’s website, Instagram, and YouTube.

70,000+

views on YouTube

29

3D animated vaccine vials

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