The East & the Needle

Tulips flashed from the mile-high meadows in Iran's Zagros Mountains. Through Do Polan Pass, heading north as they had each spring for generations, a band of Bakhtiari tribesmen rode from winter pasturage in Shiraz and Khuzistan to summer fields in Isfahan province. In their ankle-length gowns and brimless felt hats, they nimbly crossed rock-strewn slopes, driving herds before them. At Do Polan summit the brazen, electronic voice of the 20th century met the ancient, changeless East. Four loudspeakers placed around a neat white tent blared at the tribesmen: "Stop!"

Men, women and children, 40 in all, reined in. They checked the six asses carrying all their household goods. Puzzled, their chief approached the head of the six-man government team from Isfahan. "Who are you? What is all this about?" he asked. Beside his white tent, the government man explained: Isfahan province is annually plagued by smallpox; the government* was determined to halt its spread and annual flare-ups caused by unvaccinated nomads like the Bakhtiari. The tribesman was amazed that the great, remote world of big government could be interested in his health. At first he hesitated, but as the loudspeaker took up the refrain, "Better one small scar on your arm than a lot of pocks on your face," he relented. "Come and be vaccinated," the chief ordered his band.

He ordered two young men to submit first. They did so, though one said: "We don't care much about such diseases--we believe that they're a God-sent evil that we can never escape." The vaccinators used an instant preparation made from dried vaccine (conventional liquid vaccine spoils in the heat of Iran's outlying districts, where there is no refrigeration). Next came the women, breaking Moslem tradition by letting men other than their kinfolk touch them. The children yelled at the prick of the vaccinators, but a rearguard of tribesmen pushed them ahead. Band after band of Bakhtiari gained the pass, and the vaccinators worked on. By day's end their score was 3,007 inoculations.

Isfahan province (pop. 1.3 million) has by now vaccinated 750,000 people in towns and villages, is gradually reaching the rest of the settled inhabitants plus the estimated 200,000 nomadic herdsmen. The first four months of 1956 have brought a pleasant payoff: not a single case of smallpox reported, though epidemics have broken out as usual in several surrounding provinces.

* In close cooperation with the U.S. Operations Mission (Point Four) in Iran.

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