Helen Branswell writes:

Forty years ago, the world celebrated the vanquishing of a formidable foe, smallpox, which had maimed and killed millions for centuries. On May 8, 1980, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been eradicated.

That milestone, reached while the Cold War still raged, is an example of what the public health world can achieve when it works together — and is particularly resonant in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The campaign against smallpox took 21 years and required not just vaccinations but tracking and isolating new cases.

“We learned a lot of lessons in smallpox, but one of them is the absolute necessity of coalitions,” William “Bill” Foege, one of the architects of the smallpox eradication program, told STAT.

“This was all done during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States working cooperatively … trying to convince the WHO to take this on as an objective,” Foege, 84, recalled. “It required the WHO. You had to have global cooperation.”

Much of the world is cooperating against Covid-19 today. Earlier this week, for instance, global leaders pledged $8 billion to fund a coronavirus vaccine. The United States did not participate in that effort, however, and under the direction of President Trump, has suspended funding to the WHO, citing concerns about its handling of the pandemic response. [Continue reading…]