ThinkingWithMyDeac
Well-known member
Is this a real quote? What about the smallpox vaccine?
Yeah from a book called House on Fire about the smallpox eradication effort. Original vaccination protocols were to vaccinate everyone within a geographical location, or in the metaphor put water on houses that aren't on fire. The problem was that supplies were limited so to accomplish goals the protocol changed to identifying areas of need and vaccinate the nearest susceptible people. They chased case after case around the globe until no more cases were left.
It formed the guiding principle of public health now that you go to where problems are before they become bigger problems. A point that is severely missed by politicians. During the smallpox eradication efforts 4 billion people couldn't receive the vaccine, instead areas that were susceptible, reported cases, etc.. were targeted (throwing water on the actual fire). This idea works for most disease and the reason why CDC shifted towards a much larger global presence. If you target the fire you save money, resources and time.
For example when an Ebola vaccine is developed people would clamor for it to be routinely available in the United States, an absolute waste in money resources and time. Instead deploying the vaccine to Western Africa, more specifically cities in Western Africa would be cheaper and all but guarantee that Ebola never makes it to the United States.