US President Joe Biden and former US Senator Elizabeth
Dole, Bob Dole’s widow, sit near her husband’s casket at
the US Capitol.
No public viewing will take place because of the Coved-19 pandemic, although invited guests were present.
Bob Dole’s funeral will be held on Friday at the Washington National Cathedral.
On December 9, 1979, a commission of scientists declared smallpox
has been eradicated. The disease, which carries around a 30 percent chance of death for those who contract it, is the only infectious
disease afflicting humans that has officially been eradicated.
Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Program read the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated.
