The Vaccine Revolt was one of the most important and remarkable movements of the early 20th century. We have prepared 10 questions for you to study for your test, entrance exam and Enem.
Easy level
Question 01
Which doctor was involved in the issue of mandatory vaccination in the Vaccine Revolt?
a) Adolfo Lutz.
b) Vital Brazil.
c) Ivo Pitanguy.
d) Oswaldo Cruz.
i) Evandro Chagas.
Oswaldo Cruz was a sanitary doctor who led a campaign to reduce the transmission of diseases in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Question 02
Which of the topics below does not relate to the Vaccine Revolt?
a) Sanitary changes in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
b) False information about vaccination against smallpox.
c) Basic sanitation problems.
d) Government authoritarianism during vaccination.
e) Construction by the government of new housing for the poorest population.
One of the causes of the population's revolt, which culminated in the Vaccine Revolt, was the "bottom-down", a practice of government to demolish old houses and tenements in the city center in order to modernize the center of Rio de January. However, those who had their homes demolished were not compensated by the government, being forced to look for peripheral regions to live, with little or no infrastructure or basic sanitation.
Question 03
In the context of the Vaccine Revolt, why were many people irritated by Oswaldo Cruz's measure of making vaccination against smallpox compulsory?
a) Because the vaccine was paid and very expensive for a large part of the population.
b) Because a lot of false information about it has spread, causing a climate of fear and uncertainty as to its effectiveness and safety.
c) Because the reaction that the vaccine generated in people's bodies was very strong, leaving all those vaccinated in bed for 3 days.
d) Because the investment made by the government at the time was very high and the vaccine did not have scientifically proven efficacy.
e) Because the government at the time made several diversions of public funds in the purchase of the vaccine.
A lot of false information has been spread about the smallpox vaccine. As a result, the poorest population, which had been suffering from the so-called "let-down", did not have many reasons to think that the State could provide them with something beneficial. Therefore, hearing information about "the government wanting to inject people with a disease", while absurd today, was more believable at that time.
Middle level
Question 04
The Vaccine Revolt (1904), which took place in the city of Rio de Janeiro in November, generated a balance of 945 arrests, 110 people injured and 30 dead. What led the population to revolt against the mandatory vaccination proposed by the government?
a) The population revolted due to false information about the side effects of the vaccine, which were released by the government itself.
b) The popular revolt was fueled by the feeling of oppression caused by the authoritarian way in which the government implemented the measure.
c) The population revolted against mandatory vaccination due to the perception that the measure was unfair and discriminatory, as only the population living in certain favelas in Rio would need to vaccinate.
d) Resistance against mandatory vaccination was fomented by fundamentalist religious groups, considering it a divine interference in human health.
e) The population revolted against the bad administration of the vaccination program. The lack of adequate structure, the shortage of vaccine doses and the poor organization of health posts generated frustration and distrust in the population, fueling the revolt.
In addition to all the issues generated by the "let-down", the authoritarian way in which vaccination was carried out, many times with health agents forcibly entering houses and vaccinating people without the consent.
Question 05
What was the context of the city of Rio de Janeiro that influenced the conflicts of the Revolta da Vacina (1904)?
a) The electoral campaigns of the time, which evoked a bipolarization of Rio society.
b) The "bottom-down", with the eviction and demolition of old houses and tenements in the city with the objective of modernizing Rio de Janeiro, affecting the poor population.
c) The high taxes levied on the Carioca elite for the maintenance and revitalization of urban spaces in poorer regions of the city.
d) The choice of Oswaldo Cruz, a doctor without scientific preparation or notoriety, to compose the government of Rio de Janeiro.
e) The lack of resources for the construction of sports courts in the peripheral regions of Rio de Janeiro.
The modernization project for the center of Rio de Janeiro was carried out by evicting the poorest population from their homes. These often went to work during the day and, when they returned, found their dwellings on the ground. That way, they only had to look for peripheral regions to inhabit.
Question 06
Regarding the Vaccine Revolt (1904), mark the wrong alternative.
a) When President-elect Rodrigues Alves took office in 1902, tons of garbage accumulated in the streets of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
b) The reurbanization of Rio de Janeiro was harmful for the poorest layers of the city, as they had their shacks and tenements demolished.
c) To try to stop the spread of diseases, the government announced that it would pay the population for each rat that was handed over to the authorities. However, this led to the emergence of breeders of these rodents, who aimed to earn extra income.
d) The doctor Oswaldo Cruz, hired by the government to combat existing epidemics in the city of Rio de Janeiro Janeiro, refused to create a mandatory vaccination against smallpox for all Brazilians over six months.
e) After the end of the Vaccine Revolt clashes, the Mandatory Vaccine Law was modified, making its use optional.
Oswaldo Cruz, a public health physician, was responsible for defining mandatory vaccination against smallpox. After the Revolt, however, he made it optional.
Hard level
Question 07
(And either)
The Vaccine Revolt (1904) clearly showed the defensive, disorganized, fragmented aspect of popular action. The State was not denied, participation in political decisions was not demanded; values and rights considered above State intervention were defended.
CARVALHO, J. M. The bestialized: Rio de Janeiro and the Republic that was not. Sao Paulo: Cia. das Letras, 1987 (adapted).
The analyzed mobilization represented a warning, insofar as the popular action questioned:
a) rising prices.
b) the clientelist policy.
c) urban reforms.
d) government discretion.
e) electoral practices.
The movement's point of claim was the fact that vaccination against smallpox was mandatory, which, according to the demonstrators, violated the individual rights of citizens, who should have the power to choose whether to be vaccinated or no.
Question 08
(Cesgranrio) The Rodrigues Alves government (1902-1906) was responsible for the modernization and urbanization processes of the Federal Capital - Rio de Janeiro. Mayor Pereira Passos was responsible for urbanization of the city and Dr. Oswaldo Cruz for sanitation, with a view to fighting mainly yellow fever, bubonic plague and smallpox. This urbanization and public sanitation policy, despite being necessary and modernizing, encountered strong opposition from the city's poor population and public opinion because:
a) it changed the profile of the city and ended the high rates of infant mortality among the poor population.
b) it transformed the city center into an exclusively commercial and financial area and did away with the filthy kiosks.
c) made thousands of families homeless, due to the expropriation of their homes, and forced smallpox vaccination.
d) provoked the emergence of new neighborhoods that would receive, from the beginning, electricity and basic sanitation.
e) implemented a housing and health policy for the new areas of urban expansion, in harmony with the public transport expansion program.
The "bottom-up" was a modernization process in the center of Rio de Janeiro, which was based on the demolition of poor housing to make way for new works that would bring a "European air" to the city.
Question 09
(ENEM Digital) Calling the reporter a “citizen”, in 1904, the capoeira black justified the revolt: it was so that “they wouldn't go around saying that the people are sheep. From time to time it is good for black people to show that they know how to die like a man!”. For him, the vaccination itself was not important - although he would not admit to letting the hygiene men put that iron in his groin. The most important thing was “to show the government that it does not put its foot on the people's neck”.
CARVALHO, J. M. The bestialized: Rio de Janeiro and the Republic that was not. Sao Paulo: Cia. das Letras, 1987 (adapted).
The aforementioned Revolt, which took place in the city of Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the Republic, was characterized by being a
a) Agitation encouraged by physicians.
b) Attitude of popular resistance.
c) Strategy elaborated by the workers.
d) Immigrant survival tactics.
e) Insurgency action by merchants.
Part of the population revolted during the Vaccine Revolt, refusing to accept mandatory vaccination. This revolt was fueled by the context of the "throw-out" and all the government's authoritarianism in administering the doses.
question 10
(UECE) In 1904, the Vaccine Revolt, which took place in the city of Rio de Janeiro, then the federal capital, took place at a decisive moment in the transformation of Brazilian society. Regarding this movement, analyze the assertions below.
i. Its immediate pretext was the mass vaccination campaign against smallpox, launched by decision of the own presidency of the republic, at a time when a wave of popular dissatisfaction swept Rio de Janeiro January.
II. The government raged against methods of implementing the application of the vaccine that were truculent, the serums and unreliable applicators, and the officials, nurses and inspectors in charge of the campaign showed attitudes that were not recommended, but the vaccine was absolutely necessary.
III. The combat was intense. Taking advantage of the reforms under way to open avenues, the people armed themselves with stones, sticks, irons, instruments and blunt tools, and used them as war material against the police.
It is correct what is stated only in
a) II.
b) I and II.
c) II and III.
d) I and III.
II is false because it was the population and not the government who raged against these issues.
Keep studying:
- Exercises on the War of Canudos
- Enem exercises on the History of Brazil
- Exercises on the Vargas Era
- Exercises on the Military Dictatorship
SOUZA, Thiago. 10 exercises on the Vaccine Revolt (with comments).All Matter, [n.d.]. Available in: https://www.todamateria.com.br/exercicios-revolta-da-vacina/. Access at:
See too
- 10 questions about the Canudos War (with comments)
- Exercises on the Old Republic
- Vaccine Revolt (1904)
- Exercises on the Vargas Era
- Revolt of the Chibata
- 10 exercises on the Crisis of 1929 (with comments)
- World War I Questions
- Questions about World War II
