Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:14 AM UTC

BigTTYGothGF wrote: post #5

tialaramex wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be possible to reintroduce Smallpox and I guess that idiots who also think coal is a good idea might actually be stupid enough to make it happen. But, fortunately humans did wipe out one other disease and unlike Smallpox it wasn't deemed useful as a biological weapon so AFAIK nobody kept copies, it's just gone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinderpest

> AFAIK nobody kept copies Unfortunately this is not the case: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-63707-z

Post by cucumber3732842 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:48 AM UTC

m-hodges wrote: post #20

I don’t think many people know about or remember the 2003 smallpox vaccination campaign.¹ > The campaign aimed to provide the smallpox vaccine to those who would respond to an attack, establishing Smallpox Response Teams and using DryVax (containing the NYCBOH strain) to mandatorily vaccinate half a million American military personnel, followed by half a million health care worker volunteers by January 2004. The firs…

Post by andrewflnr » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:57 AM UTC

Post by deadbabe » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 2:11 AM UTC

andrewflnr wrote: post #25

That's got to be one of the greatest legacies in all human history. No politician or other empire-builder comes close.

Post by yen223 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 2:16 AM UTC

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #24

I'm starting to think that we should be calling it "contained", not "eradicated". Eradication invites the question "Well then, why do we still need the vaccine?"