Bee Bloeser witnessed suffering she’ll never unsee.

Her perspective colors everything: her life, her writing, her speaking.

Bee draws on four-plus decades of clinical practice as a licensed, ASHA-certified medical speech-language pathologist, as well as witnessing a historical public health campaign. Now an award-winning author and sought-after speaker, her work sits at the intersection of history and vivid personal memory.

Bee first dreamed of living in Africa at age ten. With her master’s degree still warm under her arm, her husband’s role with USAID and CDC made that dream come true. The family moved to Africa with a toddler and preschooler in tow. The two-year experience turned out both rewarding and more terrifying than she ever imagined.

Her status as an embedded spouse gave her an intimate view of the campaign to eradicate smallpox. Bee’s eyewitness accounts document ravaged victims in Nigeria saluting the lifesaving smallpox truck as it passed. Bee’s knowledge that no one will ever again suffer that fate leaves her choked up.

About the Book

VACCINES & BAYONETS:

Fighting Smallpox in Africa amid Tribalism, Terror and the Cold War

One Pulitzer nominee calls the author “an alert witness to a breakthrough in global health” and says the book “reads like a political thriller, women’s history, and African adventure rolled into one.”

The Ecoomist’s digital editor calls it “a sympathetic, vividly told, and useful record.”

This Amazon #1 Bestselling memoir delivers exactly that and more.

As a young wife embedded with the US-led West Africa Smallpox Eradication Program, Bee Bloeser witnessed history from the inside: civil war in Nigeria, the horrors of smallpox and leprosy, and the suffocating grip of a brutal dictatorship in Equatorial Guinea. Her account captures what academic literature or official reports rarely do, the cultural and geopolitical maneuvering, personal sacrifice, and daily courage behind public health triumph.

Praised by editors at The Economist and Foreign Policy and by former CDC Director, Doctor William Foege, this is essential reading for anyone in medicine, global health, or international affairs—and for anyone inspired by stories of human resilience.

Praise for

Vaccines and Bayonets

Sasha Polakow-SuranskyEditor, Foreign Policy magazine

“At a time when vaccines are front-page news and a deadly pandemic is raging across the globe, Bloeser’s memoir makes for riveting reading. . .a captivating family history and a reminder of how public health campaigns are still inextricably intertwined with politics. . .”

Adam RobertsCorrespondent, The Economist

“. . .a closely observed memoir. . .historically important. . .most remarkable when it recounts living in tropical, isolated and unfortunate Equatorial Guinea. . . sympathetic, vividly told and useful record of an unusually sombre moment in West African history.”

Pamela AlexanderPulitzer Prize-nominated author

“. . . reads like a political thriller, women’s history, and African adventure rolled into one. . . . Riveting.”

What Audiences Say

“My students were mesmerized and inspired. I will definitely have Ms. Bloeser speak again and I have listed her book in optional reading assignments for some of my classes.” Field Practicum class: pre-med, nursing, public health —Michele Devlin, DrPH, RN, (formerly) Professor of Global Public Health, U of Northern Iowa

“Bee masterfully brings historical depth and on-the-ground experience. My nursing students gain a deeper appreciation for health as a global issue, and for the cross-cultural, political, and logistical challenges involved in the eradication of smallpox.” Stephen Zylstra, PhD, Westmont College Nursing

“One of the most amazing presentations… very well received by our very sophisticated audience—heartily recommend.” Robert Benham, Pres. VISTAS Lifelong Learning

VACCINES & BAYONETS

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BEE BLOESER

I took a front-row seat | When the world eradicated smallpox | Let me tell you the story