Catherine and George Were Earlier PRO-VAX Leaders

The history of smallpox holds a unique place in medicine. One of the deadliest diseases known to humans, it is also the only human disease to have been eradicated by vaccination. Smallpox was spread by close contact with the sores or respiratory droplets of an infected person, similar to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus of 2019.

Over history, leaders were able to help end smallpox pandemics through vaccination campaigns.

In 1768, Russian empress Catherine the Great volunteered to be inoculated against smallpox in an effort to show her subjects that the emerging medical technique was safe, reported the Financial Times on August 13, 2020.

Then, a few years later in 1775, General George Washington took command of the Continental Army when America was fighting a 2-front war: one for independence, and a second for survival against smallpox. Because Washington knew the ravages of the disease firsthand, he understood that the smallpox virus, then an invisible enemy, could cripple his army and end the war before it began. He too was inoculated to display his leadership.

As COVID-19 disease preventive vaccines become available, which leaders will lead by example?