After World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus intervened to overrule a stymied committee, monkeypox has been declared a global public health emergency. It was an important intervention—but fighting the spread of a painful and distressing disease requires clear public health messaging about who is most at risk right now and why.
Smallpox drove physician Edward Jenner to make the vaccine in 1796 by using cowpox, a less lethal member of the pox family. Smallpox eradication in 1980 is considered by many experts to be the greatest public health success of the 20th century.
