How limited supply, database confusion, cold chain hiccups, and politicking could impede immunisation efforts.
During the final phase of smallpox eradication, while combing the farthest reaches of Rajasthan for remnants of the variola virus, Cornelia E. Davis fell off her camel and broke a rib. In Patna, Lawrence Altman cobbled a makeshift mattress-and-bamboo raft to survive the massive flood of 1975; he’d spent five days on a roof with nausea and dehydration for company. In Jamshedpur, Larry Brilliant burst into the home of Russi Mody and got bit by his Tibetan mastiff, but powered on to reprimand the Tata Steel managing director for doing nothing to keep Jamshedpur from becoming a pox epicentre.
Davis, …
Roshni is a features writer and former editor of The Morning Context's Chaos team. Her career spans The Ken, Reuters, the Hindustan Times and DNA. She is a recipient of the UNFPA Laadli award and was shortlisted for the RedInk Awards 2016 for her story on Mumbai’s leprosy colonies. Her far-flung ideas would sometimes drive our editor-in-chief Ashish up the wall, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way (even if he didn’t admit it).
roshni@mailtmc.com