WILLIAM FOEGE (1936 - 2026)
Smallpox had been killing human beings for at least 3,000 years; the mummified head of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V, who died 1157 BCE, shows evidence of the distinct, bumpy rash that made smallpox so horrifyingly visible. Three in 10 people who contracted the highly contagious disease died, while survivors were often left scarred and even blinded. So terrifying was smallpox, that many religions and cultures had the equivalent of a “smallpox demon,” like India’s Shitala Mata. Smallpox was particularly dangerous to chi|dren, and in 17th-century England chi|dren were even not considered full members of the family until they had survived their smallpox infection. Despite intense efforts to vaccinate people, it was still killing an estimated two million people a year as late as the 1960s.
In 1966, while serving as a medical missionary in Nigeria, Dr. Foege was asked by the CDC to help with the regional smallpox vaccination campaign. After confirming an outbreak in a remote village accessible only by bicycle, he realized there weren’t enough vaccine supplies for mass vaccination — the standard approach at the time.
Foege mapped the district, asked missionaries to report suspected cases by ham radio, and within a day had a clear picture of where infections were occurring. Using this information, he created ring vaccination: tracking every confirmed case and vaccinating only the people they might have exposed in surrounding villages and markets.
The targeted strategy worked beyond Foege’s expectations. Instead of vaccinating 80% of the population, immunity was achieved by vaccinating only about 7-8% in the affected area.
This surveillance-and-containment method became central to the global smallpox campaign. In 1977, just 10 years after the intensified program was launched, a hospital cook in Somalia named Ali Maow Maalin became the last person on Earth to naturally contract smallpox. On May 8, 1980, after enough time had passed to be sure, the World Health Assembly declared that “the world and all its peoples had won freedom from smallpox.” A virus that had haunted humanity for thousands of years was gone.
Foege would serve as CDC director under Presidents Carter and Reagan, and he was instrumental in pushing for global campaigns around childhood immunization. “Humanity does not have to live in a world of plagues, disastrous governments, conflict, and uncontrolled health risks. The coordinated action of a group of dedicated people can plan for and bring about a better future. The fact of smallpox eradication remains a constant reminder that we should settle for nothing less.”
William Foege receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, May 29, 2012.