section_path: History/Eradication/Costs and benefits
section_name: Costs and benefits
paragraph_text: Costs and benefits
  
  The cost of the eradication effort, from 1967 to 1979, was roughly US$300 million. Roughly a third came from the developed world, which had largely eradicated smallpox decades earlier. The United States, the largest contributor to the program, has reportedly recouped that investment every 26 days since in money not spent on vaccinations and the costs of incidence.