Eradication
The vaccination line in New York City in 1947.
After Edward Jenner's discovery of the vaccine, many lives were saved-yet smallpox continued to infect individuals. In 1947, a businessman from Mexico came to New York City with smallpox, sending officials into a panic. They quickly vaccinated over 6 million people. That was the last major case of smallpox in the US. In 1967, WHO decided to start an Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme (ISEP) with a ten-year time frame in mind. The immediate goals were to improve the methods of identifying and reporting smallpox and the creation and mass production of a stable, freeze-dried vaccine that did not require refrigerated storage even in tropical countries. Once these issues had been addressed, the eradication team had to decide which countries would benefit the most from the program.
"The idea of developing a worldwide campaign to eradicate smallpox flickered hopefully from the first moments of Jenner's discovery. Farsighted people immediately waxed rhetorical about wiping out the disease and freeing humankind from its burden. As Thomas Jefferson wrote to Jenner in 1806, 'You have erased from the calendar of human afflictions one of its greatest. Yours is the comfortable reflection that mankind can never forget that you have lived. Future nations will know by history only that the loathsome smallpox has existed.' However, more than a century and a half were to pass before concrete collective steps were taken."
- David Koplow; Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge
- David Koplow; Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge
"For our mission to succeed, every country would have to participate: special programs of some sort would be needed for all countries where smallpox was endemic as well as those adjacent to them. We would need to persuade governments to undertake programs in which the governments themselves were expected to provide at least 70 percent of the national costs. Global, regional, and country-specific planning meetings would have to be convened. We would need training programs, operations manuals, a network of vaccine production laboratories and testing facilities, and new national and international surveillance programs. Because two-thirds of the projected budget for international support was expected to come from voluntary contributions, we would have to spend at least some time in the delicate art of fund-raising. Balancing the timing for all of this would be crucial: if one country's program lacked or failed, other countries would be at risk of importing new cases."
- D.A. Henderson, M.D; Smallpox: The Death of a Disease |
D.A. Henderson explains why smallpox is a good candidate for eradication.
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