cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40553

Permanently wiping out a disease is tricky business. Polio, measles, mumps—all have effective vaccines, yet they persist in certain pockets around the world. To date, the World Health Organization considers just two viruses as successfully eradicated: smallpox and rinderpest.

…

That innovation made it possible to deliver vaccines to a wider array of far-flung places, but it didn’t necessarily make it easier. Past mass vaccination attempts had failed to reach herders and ranchers in remote areas where it was harder to transport the vaccine, regardless of refrigeration.

So, the scientists engaged in a more targeted and strategic approach and went directly to those remote areas. Researchers helped train people in these communities to provide the vaccine and relied on their knowledge to decide how and when to distribute it. These efforts increased vaccination in herds that had been missed during previous campaigns. Locals then monitored for signs of disease after vaccination occurred.

“I don’t know if we would have succeeded if we didn’t have that approach in place: the heat-stable vaccine combined with new appropriate delivery systems,” Mariner said in a 2019 interview. The successful eradication, then, relied on both science and collaboration, and a tool called participatory epidemiology, which incorporates both researchers and stakeholders.