In this photo, I was 5 years old and had been dressed up for a fancy dress competition on board the P&O Orient ship, Orcades while travelling home to N. Ireland after two years in Australia. I have few memories of this except my father telling me to smile and shake my tambourine and hips when parading in front of the judges of a fancy dress competition. I did neither and scowled at them furious that I should be subjected to this cattle show. This photo captures me on deck just before the competition started blissfully unaware of what lay ahead. (PS when I first posted this Facebook/Meta blocked my posting as obscene, hence the label!).
The skirt is still in this house, stored in a plastic bag in our garage attic. My Mum stores everything safely and that is why I also found this document below which was stamped on the exact same trip in May of 1964.
Smallpox had been the torment of humanity for over 3000 years. In the 20th century alone 500 million died from this dreadful disease. Just 55 years ago smallpox was still to be found in 30 countries and 15 million people caught the disease every year. Of those 15 million, 2 million would die. As a result of this in 1959, the year after I was born, the World Health Organization (WHO) started an initiative to rid the world of smallpox. However, this worthwhile global eradication campaign was short of funds, personnel, vaccines, and most importantly commitment from enough countries. Because of these factors, smallpox was still widespread in 1966, causing regular outbreaks across South America, Africa, and Asia. The reason for my vaccination on board ship was that we would be stopping at many of the ports still plagued by this disease.
The world community did not give up and an Intensified Eradication Program began in 1967 with considerable determined effort across the world. The 33rd World Health Assembly was able to declare the world free of this disease on May 8, 1980. In terms of international public health, the eradication of smallpox is considered an outstanding success. A united world approach worked and today children no longer even need to be immunised against this dreadful killer disease.
Today's COVID pandemic has caused a division of opinions as well as suffering and loss of lives. I have relatives who are convinced the whole business is a conspiracy/fake and are devastated at what they see as their loss of freedom. Another group of relatives has experienced bereavement and are understandably furious that anyone doubts the seriousness of COVID. They feel angry that vaccinations are not being accepted and that those who refuse them end up filling much-needed intensive care beds.
As always, we will not know the whole story until much later when we look back at all the successes and failures of various countries and their approaches. I feel the debate has become too toxic of late. If we are to learn the valuable lessons from such incidents the level of discourse will have to be elevated not debased.
Following scientific advice, I decided to vaccinate. With a vulnerable elderly relative, I wanted to do everything in my power to safeguard them and others in my community. After all, herd immunity has succeeded in controlling other contagious diseases such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria, and rubella. There are always people who for serious health reasons are unable to vaccinate and they rely on the herd protecting them. It reminds me of how a herd of buffalo forms a circle around the young and vulnerable when attacked by predators. If someone chooses not to take a particular vaccine for ideological rather than medical exemption reasons it perplexes and saddens me but does not make me want to protect them any less. If they can benefit from herd immunity then I am happy. It is just worrisome when too many make that choice to remain unvaccinated as it can end up threatening the safety of us all. More importantly, there are other challenges the world are facing now that will necessitate acting in unity. Without unity, so many other vital endeavours will simply become impossible.
58 years ago I was part of a courageous and daring world experiment to eradicate a killer disease that had plagued the world for over 3 millennia and we must be grateful to all those who initiated, sustained, and participated in that endeavour. It is only usually in hindsight that we can see the effects of medical intervention on a global scale. But even from this present perspective, it seems hostility, division, and toxic debates do little to benefit the well-being of our world community.
"The well-being of mankind,
its peace and security,
are unattainable
unless and until
its unity is firmly established."
Bahá’u’lláh
