They expected us to cure the sick. Sometimes, villagers fetched old cases who lost their vision due to smallpox and expected us to restore their sight. We had to be careful not to disappoint our target population in order to get their compliance and participate in the immunization program. Therefore, it was incumbent upon us to blend the immunization activity with patient care and referral to the nearest hospital for anyone who needed further treatment. The major challenge of the smallpox eradication campaign in the regions I worked was keeping the vaccines viable.
High temperature makes the vaccine impotent.
C. This is technically defined as the 'cold chain'. There was no electricity in the region and we had to depend on portable refrigerators that ran on kerosene oil. Even with all the meticulous care we could implement to keep the vaccines viable, the rate of vaccine spoilage was a major problem. Once the vaccine was administered, we had to return after 72 hrs to assess the reaction to the vaccine on a representative sample of individuals who had the vaccine. A potent vaccine resulted in a small swelling under the skin with redness and blister formation at the site of inoculation.