For more than 3,000 years, the relentless, incurable illness known as smallpox has killed, maimed, or blinded hundreds of millions of people. Dr. D.A. Henderson became the director of a global drive to wipe this illness off the face of the earth in 1967.
Dr. Henderson's personal account of leading the World Health Organization's drive to eradicate smallpox—the first disease in history to be purposefully eradicated—is told in this enthralling book. This effort has been dubbed "the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the century" by some.
Dr. Henderson makes it apparent that the massive worldwide effort entailed more than just mass immunization in a vivid, fascinating tale. Civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and refugees were among the challenges he and his team faced, as well as strong bureaucratic and cultural impediments, a scarcity of local health experts, and tight resources. Countries from all over the globe contributed to the endeavor; the US and the Soviet Union collaborated during the darkest days of the Cold War; and WHO field employees came from more than 70 countries. The final incidence of smallpox occurred on October 26, 1976. The illness that had killed two million or more people every year had been eradicated–in little over 10 years.
That was not the end of the story. Dr. Henderson describes in great detail the ongoing debate over whether or not to kill the residual virus in the two laboratories where it was still being housed. Then came the shocking revelation that the Soviet Union had been testing and generating smallpox virus as a biological weapon in enormous quantities. The possibility of it being used by a rogue nation or a terrorist had to be addressed seriously, and Dr. Henderson was a key role in devising strategies to deal with it.
He wanted to expand the smallpox immunization program to include polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccinations since new methods for mass smallpox vaccination were so successful. Poliomyelitis is now eradicated in more than four out of five children throughout the world because to this initiative.
This one-of-a-kind book is a personal and genuine narrative that demonstrates how even the most difficult barriers can be conquered with collaboration and determination.
Twenty orphans, one of whom was vaccinated, were put on board a ship. On the eighth day, when a pustule had developed, a second orphan was vaccinated, and so on. When the ship reached its destination, the transfer of vaccinia was made to local residents and the vaccination chain continued.
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