![Smallpox Eradication](https://cdn.slatesource.com/8/0/7/807d0039-8fe8-4b2c-81f4-d42c587ea844.webp) # Smallpox Eradication - [Made in Slatesource](https://slatesource.com/@steph/smallpox-eradication) - By [Steph](https://slatesource.com/@steph) - Created on Aug 9, 2026 ## SmallpoxSmallpox EradicationEradication The only humanhuman diseasedisease everever deliberatelydeliberately eradicatederadicated. It is alsoalso the only oneone on this reporepo whosewhose filefile is closedclosed and whosewhose tailtail is stillstill movingmoving. The WorldWorld HealthHealth AssemblyAssembly askedasked for eradicationeradication in 19591959 and almostalmost nothingnothing happenedhappened for eighteight yearsyears. \[3\] The programmeprogramme that workedworked ranran from 19671967, and the thingthing that mademade it workwork was not the thingthing it was designeddesigned aroundaround. \[1\] \[3\] [who.int](https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-smallpox-vaccination?utm_source=slatesource) ## StatusStatus solvedsolved. The lastlast naturallynaturally acquiredacquired casecase was in OctoberOctober 19771977 and the diseasedisease has not returnedreturned. \[19\] What is unfinishedunfinished is not the diseasedisease. It is the virusvirus, whichwhich was nevernever destroyeddestroyed, and the populationpopulation immunityimmunity, whichwhich was allowedallowed to lapselapse on purposepurpose and is nownow being testedtested by somethingsomething elseelse. NOW Declared eradicated by the Thirty-third World Health Assembly on 8 May 1980. \[5\] Updated Aug 2026 2 years and4 months and23 days and03:43:04 ## The ProblemProblem SmallpoxSmallpox killedkilled at leastleast oneone in threethree of the peoplepeople it infectedinfected, and moremore in its severestseverest formsforms. \[7\] It had no animalanimal reservoirreservoir, whichwhich is the factfact the wholewhole eradicationeradication efforteffort restsrests on: a diseasedisease that liveslives only in peoplepeople can in principleprinciple be corneredcornered, becausebecause everyevery chainchain of transmissiontransmission runsruns throughthrough a humanhuman being you couldcould in principleprinciple findfind. \[2\] In 19671967, when the intensifiedintensified programmeprogramme beganbegan, an estimatedestimated 10 to 15 millionmillion peoplepeople were being infectedinfected everyevery yearyear. The reportedreported figurefigure for that yearyear was 132132,000000. \[19\] The gapgap betweenbetween those twotwo numbersnumbers is not a footnotefootnote. It is the reasonreason the firstfirst strategystrategy couldcould not have workedworked and the secondsecond oneone couldcould. [who.int](https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-smallpox-vaccination?utm_source=slatesource) ## KeyKey NumbersNumbers The figuresfigures this slateslate restsrests on. EachEach has a valuevalue, a unitunit, a yearyear and a sourcesource. CorrectingCorrecting oneone of these is the smallestsmallest and mostmost welcomewelcome contributioncontribution you can makemake. Years between the 1959 resolution and real progress \[3\] 8 yr Estimated infections per year, 1967 \[19\] 10-15 M Cases actually reported that year \[19\] 132 K Cost of the intensified programme, 1967 to 1977 \[7\] $300 M Share of that cost paid by the endemic countries \[7\] two thirds Laboratories known to hold variola at eradication, 1980 \[2\] 6 Laboratories authorised to hold it today \[8\] 2 Years since the first agreed destruction deadline passed \[10\] 27 yr Reported mpox cases, 1970s versus 2010 to 2019 \[17\] 48 to 18 K Reported DNA cost of building a related poxvirus, 2017 \[20\] $100 K The last two numbers are the reason this slate is not a victory lap. Eradication removed the disease from circulation. It did not remove the virus from the world, and it did not remove the ability to rebuild one. ## How To ReadRead This SlateSlate EightEight pagespages, the samesame eighteight everyevery slateslate herehere has. The timelinetimeline is the shapeshape of what happenedhappened. What workedworked and what failedfailed carrycarry the interventionsinterventions, oneone perper chipchip, eacheach with its evidenceevidence. ForksForks in the roadroad is where the decisionsdecisions are, and it is the pagepage to readread if you only readread oneone. How we knowknow coverscovers the measurementmeasurement, includingincluding the partpart where nobodynobody couldcould seesee mostmost of the casescases. StillStill openopen is what is leftleft.