Lessons from Smallpox Eradication Should Inspire Effort to Overcome COVID-19

In 1967 smallpox caused approximately 15 million cases, two million deaths and left survivors with lifelong scars and injuries. That same year, WHO kicked off a new 10-year Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme, which focused on surveillance and containment of the virus.

Although the Cold War divided much of the world, a combination of traditional public health measures, along with a safe and effective vaccine were key to the disease being declared eradicated in 1980.

Smallpox remains the only human virus that has ever been successfully consigned to the history books, although other diseases like polio and guinea worm are getting closer. Forty years on, the lessons learned overcoming smallpox are particularly relevant as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens both lives and livelihoods across the world.

With any new disease outbreak, the toolbox of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines is initially empty and so traditional public health methods are key to slowing the spread. With COVID-19, many governments across the world moved quickly to initiate strict health measures to bend the curve of the virus while also working together to accelerate the science.

Identifying suspected cases and then tracing contacts was key to quelling smallpox and the same technique is used to curtail outbreaks of polio, Ebola and now COVID-19. The good news is that countries across the world are rapidly increasing testing capacity, which gives us a collective new window of opportunity to identify where the virus is and then target efforts on stopping it from moving from human-to-human.

Since the start of the outbreak, the overarching strategy in every country remains to find, isolate, test and treat every case, as this is the only way to currently break the chains of transmission. This is key to flattening the curve, ensuring that health systems are not overwhelmed, lives are saved and research and development has the time to deliver new lifesaving tools.

Smallpox eradication was only possible because of a safe and effective vaccine. With COVID-19, science is our best route out of the current crisis. WHO is bringing political leaders together with public and private sector partners, civil society and academia to drive forward the ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator’, which aims to ensure that new health technologies will be developed, manufactured and distributed equitably across the world. Like smallpox, while the coronavirus exists anywhere, all countries remain at risk.  

COVID-19 has reinforced just how intertwined humanity is and like with smallpox it’s important that we’re collectively laser focused on stopping the virus. This is why scientists from across the world are working together to produce treatments for all at a pace that has never been seen. Solidarity clinical trials are currently taking place across 100 countries so that potential treatments for COVID-19 can be scaled up and fast tracked through randomized clinical trials around the world at a rate that aims to be 80 percent faster than any traditional trial.

Solidarity does not start and end with R&D though. Health workers are the heroes in the COVID-19 response so far and they need to be protected from the virus. This is why, working with the World Food Programme, solidarity flights have shipped millions of masks, goggles and personal protective gear to frontline health workers across the world.

At this critical moment, national unity and global solidarity are key to getting through this and coming out stronger on the other side. If there was ever a time to work together and bridge the political divide, it is now. Looking back at the Cold War, it is still an exceptional achievement that science and public health overcame geopolitical turbulence to secure its greatest victory.

We have more in common with each other than we’d ever dare to believe. While COVID-19 is an unprecedented shock to the world; we must collectively rise to the challenge and ensure that all resources and efforts are honed on tackling this pandemic.

History will hold us accountable for the actions we took together to build unity in the face of division, to exercise humility over blaming others and to envision a world where every single person has access to quality health services.

There’s only one way we can achieve this: together!