Smallpox eradicated in 1980, not just ‘held in check’ by vaccines | Fact check

The claim: Smallpox was ‘never eradicated’ and is being ‘held in check’ by vaccines

A Nov. 15 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) from the liberal group Occupy Democrats includes side-by-side images of a child infected with smallpox and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.

“Say hello to smallpox,” reads text around the images. “It was never eradicated; it’s held in check by vaccines, which RFK Jr. says he will eliminate coverage for, making vaccines ‘optional.’”

The post was shared more than 6,000 times in a week. Similar posts were shared on Threads and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The World Health Organization declared smallpox officially eradicated in 1980. The smallpox vaccine is no longer administered routinely by any government, and there has not been a natural case detected since 1977, according to the WHO. The X post quoted in the image was deleted, and the social media user who shared it said in a subsequent post that the disease was eradicated.

Smallpox eradicated after years of work to stop spread

In 1967, the World Health Organization began an “intensified effort” to eradicate smallpox, a contagious disease caused by the variola virus. The project involved mass vaccination along with widespread surveillance and containment efforts that responded to any outbreaks.

These efforts were successful, and the last known natural case occurred in Somalia in 1977, according to the WHO. The only known cases since then were the result of a 1978 lab accident in England, which led to one death and caused a small outbreak.

The WHO declared smallpox officially eradicated in 1980. The last natural outbreak of smallpox in the U.S. had occurred decades earlier in 1949, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before it was eradicated, smallpox plagued humanity for thousands of years and caused hundreds of millions of deaths. The disease spreads through person-to-person contact and saliva droplets in an infected person’s breath, according to the WHO. It’s fatal for about 3 of 10 people who catch it.

The symptoms include fever, fatigue and a “characteristic rash with bumps full of a clear liquid,” and many survivors suffered from blindness and infertility.

Fact check: No, Japan didn’t name COVID-19 vaccine ‘most deadly drug in history’

The smallpox vaccine was first created by Edward Jenner in 1796 after “he observed that milkmaids who previously had caught cowpox did not catch smallpox,” according to the WHO. Jenner inoculated an 8-year-old boy using matter from a cowpox sore on the hand of a milkmaid. The boy didn’t feel well for several days, but a later test showed he was resistant to smallpox.

However, the vaccine hasn’t been used for routine immunization in the U.S. since the 1970s, according to the CDC. Similarly, the WHO says that no government routinely gives the vaccine since it can lead to "rare" but “serious complications and even death,” and should only be given to people exposed to the virus or those at high risk. Despite this, there have been no outbreaks since the 1970s. The disease is, therefore, not being "held in check" by vaccines, as the post claims.

Trump nominated Kennedy to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of the country's public health department, as USA TODAY previously reported. Kennedy gained notoriety in part for his opposition to the childhood measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, and he spread debunked claims that it was linked to autism. He also frequently criticized COVID-19 restrictions and spread other misinformation about the pandemic.

The text in the Occupy Democrats image originated from a post on X from author Karen Piper. She deleted it, saying in a corrective follow-up post that smallpox “was eradicated BY VACCINES.”

USA TODAY reached out to Occupy Democrats for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Reuters also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources

• WHO, May 17. 2010, Statue commemorates smallpox eradication

• WHO, accessed Nov. 22, Smallpox

• WHO, June 28, 2016, Smallpox Q&A

• WHO, accessed Nov. 22, History of the smallpox vaccine

• CDC, accessed Nov. 22, About Smallpox

• CDC, accessed Nov. 22, About Smallpox Vaccines

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WHO declared smallpox officially eradicated in 1980 | Fact check