In this episode, we chart the WHO smallpox eradication campaign - an international operation of massive manpower, unlikely allies, and sheer human determination. From the concept of "ring-fence" vaccination beginning with forest firefighters in America, to a junior doctor striking a bargain with smugglers on the India-Bangladesh border, it's a story that spans several continents and reveals how people's unique ability to shape the world can, just occasionally, be used for good.
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In this episode, we chart the WHO smallpox eradication campaign - an international operation of massive manpower, unlikely allies, and sheer human determination. From the concept of "ring-fence" vaccination beginning with forest firefighters in America, to a junior doctor striking a bargain with smugglers on the India-Bangladesh border, it's a story that spans several continents and reveals how people's unique ability to shape the world can, just occasionally, be used for good.
At the start of the 19th century, a ship sets sail from Bengal, India, carrying a most peculiar cargo...
In this episode, we look at the development of the smallpox vaccine by an English country doctor, which rapidly eclipsed the earlier practice of inoculation. The cowpox vaccine represented an astonishing new development in public health, but also something of a logistical challenge - how to carry it long distances, across the sea? The answer would ignite a fierce culture war, and inextricably link the new technology to the age's great historical movements of power and empire.
Vaccine: The Human Story
In this episode, we chart the WHO smallpox eradication campaign - an international operation of massive manpower, unlikely allies, and sheer human determination. From the concept of "ring-fence" vaccination beginning with forest firefighters in America, to a junior doctor striking a bargain with smugglers on the India-Bangladesh border, it's a story that spans several continents and reveals how people's unique ability to shape the world can, just occasionally, be used for good.
