Mothers and children queue to be vaccinated against smallpox.
Dispensaries throughout the country experienced long queues as mothers and their children waited to get vaccinated.
In 1962 a man returned to Cardiff in Wales from Pakistan and was diagnosed with smallpox. It was highly contagious and there was no treatment. The disease spread through the population quickly killing 19 people before vaccinations had been administered.
As there was much travel in and out of Ireland at the time, a decision was made by the Irish government to vaccinate Irish people too. The vaccinations were made available for free and were administered through dispensaries, clinics and general practitioners throughout the country. However, many were turned away and told to return another day after dispensaries were swamped by crowds of people hoping to get vaccinated.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 16 April 1962. The footage shown here is mute.
