COVID-19 is a newly emerged public health issue that has a significant number of obstacles that must be resolved prior to its eradication. Modern scientists already have a comprehensive knowledge base, as similar events are already well-documented. The work of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the eradication of smallpox provides an exemplary case of how a virus can be efficiently dealt with across the span of a decade (Seymour, 2016). This essay will discuss the efforts necessary for COVID-19 eradication and what lessons can be learned from a similar situation with smallpox in the 1970s.
COVID-19 is a highly infectious and easily transmittable disease with tens of millions of cases across the globe in a year. Epidemiologists employ public health surveillance, investigate the situation to predict its epidemic curve, and use public health campaigns to promote methods of disease transmission reduction (Baral et al., 2021). Management of all aspects of eradication efforts means as much as the distribution of the vaccines when dealing with such an outbreak (Horton, 2020). The current state of COVID-19 individual and public awareness campaigns reveals new issues to successful eradication via traditional epidemiology principles.
The campaign against smallpox can serve as a fitting example of a viable plan for action against the virus. The efforts against this disease during the middle of the twentieth century showed how coordination between medical personnel across the globe alongside medical breakthroughs is an essential component in such a program (Seymour, 2016). The WHO personnel during the smallpox eradication campaign was highly motivated by the organization’s leaders and trained to target, seclude, and vaccinate people who were in contact with the infected quickly (Seymour, 2016). These principles are employed nowadays, although some errors in communication remain.
It is crucial to distinguish between population and individual approaches in public health initiatives. The campaign for eradication of this disease requires continuous investment, as research and development are only a part of this process, while the delivery of the vaccine has a multitude of barriers (Horton, 2020). There are numerous vaccine promotions on the population level that facilitate the spread of valid information regarding the virus, its effects, and how to avoid them.
The situation has broad coverage, as non-pharmaceutical methods are actively promoted (Heywood & Macintyre, 2020). Individual-level interventions are applied as well in high-risk populations and show high cost-efficiency, although there are inequities in their application (Baral et al., 2021). There are more opportunities for the growth of small-scale interventions, as specific portions of the population can be harder to target otherwise.
In conclusion, there is a sufficient amount of past and newly generated knowledge regarding virus outbreaks that allows scientists to deal with such a situation with high efficiency. There are several valuable insights from the smallpox campaign that is employed by epidemiologists in the current situation, such as public health campaigns and rapid vaccination efforts. However, there are obstacles that prevent some of the principles of epidemiology from being applied successfully. These issues can be detrimental for society, as public health campaigns are met with a degree of distrust due to the damaged reputation of WHO and vaccine developers. Personnel must be able to explain the importance of vaccination to people in a clear and concise way that will ensure that the right choice is made (Baral et al., 2021). The distribution of proven information regarding vaccines is essential in COVID-19 eradication, as the costs of its outbreak are higher than the costs of anti-COVID campaigns.
References
Baral, S., Chandler, R., Prieto, R. G., Gupta, S., Mishra, S., & Kulldorff, M. (2021). Leveraging epidemiological principles to evaluate Sweden’s COVID-19 response. Annals of Epidemiology, 54, 21-26. Web.
Heywood, A. E., & Macintyre, C. R. (2020). Elimination of COVID-19: What would it look like, and is it possible?The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(9), 1005-1007. Web.
Horton, R. (2020). Offline: The lessons of smallpox eradication for COVID-19. The Lancet, 396(10267). Web.
Seymour, J. (2016). Eradicating smallpox. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Web.