Successful smallpox eradication: what can we learn to control COVID-19?

<jats:p>The public health community needs to learn from history and needs to regain its ability to do shoe-leather public health. If we come together collectively and use the public health tools that we have at hand, we will be successful in containing COVID-19 despite geopolitical tensions, just as we were successful in eradicating smallpox despite the Cold War at the time.</jats:p>