But many similar goals have been met in the past, like eliminating smallpox and polio and immunizing most infants against major diseases.

We've eliminated smallpox, and are close to eliminating polio.

The campaign was successful in eliminating smallpox from all American countries except Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador.

The world didn't have to eliminate poverty in order to eliminate smallpox, and we don't have to reduce poverty before we reduce malaria.

Jenner dreamed of eliminating smallpox.

Biology moves too slowly for us; why wait generations for natural selection to eliminate myopia and smallpox when we can grind corrective lenses and develop vaccines?

Vaccinia-based vaccines played a major role in eliminating smallpox throughout the world.

Think of what would have happened if we hadn't eliminated smallpox in that window of opportunity - a window we didn't even know about.

Such vaccines have eliminated smallpox from the entire globe and polio from the Western hemisphere.

This method was used by The World Health Organization to eliminate smallpox from the world, finally reported in 1980.