Yes, know the history pretty well, from Edward Jenner to the last natural case (of Variola major) in Bangladesh in 1975. Studied it in my Biochem/Microbiology undergrad; my wife wrote her Master's thesis and did lab work on Poxviruses, specifically Monkeypox, and now works at Pfizer in the regulatory group (one of her team members wrote the emergency use authorization for the vaccine for the FDA).
For a number of reasons it will be much harder to eradicate a coronavirus through vaccination than a poxvirus. Completely different biology between the two, not to mention the political / social reasons (radical religious groups, anti-vaxxers, etc.) that would have to be overcome. The eradication of smallpox was probably the greatest public health accomplishment of the 20th century - all for an estimated cost of US$300 million. However, about 1 in 1,000 had severe reactions after being inoculated with an estimated 1 to 2 out of every million having a fatal reaction. That may seem high, but was an acceptable risk given that it was lethal in about 30% of cases and those who survived typically had debilitating scarring.
Personally, I think it is more likely that we'll have to get regular (annual, or every several years), vaccinations for COVID as the virus mutates over time. Also still unclear how long the immunity provided by the vaccine will last and it would be reasonable to assume that booster shots will be needed over time. Unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle so to speak, so it will be impossible to stop its transmission now and eradicate it. Happy to be proved wrong though!