# Are You Getting The Smallpox Vaccine? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260 "2002-12-12T16:25:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/1 "2002-12-12T16:25:02Z")
Here’s the story- [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021212/sc\_nm/bush\_smallpox\_dc\_9](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021212/sc_nm/bush_smallpox_dc_9) I’m asking because I personally have not yet made up my mind. There are some risks to getting the shot, and there might be some serious risks to NOT getting the shot. Your decision will depend on how significant you perceive those risks to be. So, are you going to get vaccinated for smallpox? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/2 "2002-12-12T16:34:49Z")
Well, since I already was vaccinated as a kid, I think I’d take my chances and not have another…especially since the jury’s still out on whether or not us older Boomers need to be revaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/3 "2002-12-12T16:35:13Z")
from the Yahoo news story that **Surreal** posted: > [@](#): > > Under the expected plan the vaccine would be given first to some 500,000 military personnel and a similar number of front-line emergency workers, including hospital employees, paramedics and police, the administration official said. I’m in the Air Force, I expect it’ll be mandatory for me. Not that I mind. I believe military personnel will be at greater risk of exposure than the general public. It makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/4 "2002-12-12T16:40:32Z")
No. While the risk of dying from the small pox vaccine is only one or two in a million I feel the risk of actually being exposed to smallpox is much smaller. When you follow the link also look at the article “Smallpox Vaccine Reactions Jolt Experts”. This vaccine is 40 years old and has side effects that would never be considered acceptable in a new vaccine. I think they should take all the new molecular genetics technology that’s been developed in the last 40 years and design a new vaccine. We know so much more now about the way viruses work that, given the necessary funding, they ought to be able to design a vaccine without so many side effects. If there was a new safer vaccine I would probably get vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/5 "2002-12-12T16:43:47Z")
I work in a hospital, often with people with suppressed immune systems. We’ll see, but I may have to get one as part of my job. However, the issue has been raised that people with immune system difficulties may be able to contract some sort of cowpox-related disease from people who’ve recently been immunized (the site of the injection can be pus-filled, among other yucky potential side effects), so it comes down to what the hospital policy is. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/6 "2002-12-12T16:51:28Z")
Since I am in the “general public” I will decided in 2004 which is the soonest I am going to be able to get a vaccine anyway from the look of things. The benefit/risk evaluation may change a great deal in the next couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/7 "2002-12-12T17:00:04Z")
Question: as I was already vaccinated as a child and didn’t suffer and side-effects, does that mean if I get a booster I should also be OK? Not that I’m _getting_ one, just curious . . . ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/8 "2002-12-12T17:01:33Z")
Heck no. As In Conceivable noted, who knows what the world will be like by the time it’s offered to folks like me. I guess I’ll decide then. But if it were offered tomorrow, I wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/9 "2002-12-12T17:55:31Z")
I think I was vaccinated as a child (I was born in '64), so I’m assuming that I wouldn’t need to get re-vaccinated anyway. Or does the vaccine wear off? And since I was vaccinated already, wouldn’t I be much safer receiving it again in '04? So, really, the issue for me would be whether to have my kids vaccinated. Though recommendations may change greatly between now and when it’s available to the general public, right now my feeling is that I would get them vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/10 "2002-12-12T18:34:52Z")
I was vaccinated in '72. I asked the nurse in our employee health division about it when I was getting my TB test, and she said that would only have protected me for 3 years or so. I would expect, but am not certain, that a vaccination done in the '60s would be similarly ineffective today. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/11 "2002-12-12T18:38:32Z")
I was vaccinated 14 years ago as part of a NIH AIDS vaccine study. I should call the folks at Vanderbilt to make sur ethat part of the vaccine was complete. StG ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/12 "2002-12-12T18:45:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > I was vaccinated in '72. I asked the nurse in our employee health division about it when I was getting my TB test, and she said that would only have protected me for 3 years or so. I would expect, but am not certain, that a vaccination done in the '60s would be similarly ineffective today. Caveat - I am not an infectious disease specialist, nor am I a doctor or nurse. As far as I know I received only one smallpox vaccination, and do not know if a full series of some kind would confer lasting immunity, or if the vaccination type changed over those decades in which it was commonly in use. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/13 "2002-12-12T18:56:53Z")
I found a cite that has links to a lot of information about smallpox and the smallpox vaccines. It also has some pictures of people who have come down with smallpox, which are extremely graphic (WARNING!). [http://www.immunize.org/bioterror/smallpox.htm](http://www.immunize.org/bioterror/smallpox.htm) I don’t see how anyone could see those photos and still feel comfortable NOT being vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![lovelyluka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@lovelyluka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lovelyluka)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/14 "2002-12-12T19:17:56Z")
Ya know, I’m in the general public, which means that lots of people will be vaccinated before me. And as awful as this sounds, I going to base whether or not I get it on what happens to _them_, and what state the world is in at that point. If the vaccination itself is risky, but the world’s on the brink of huge biological warfare…yeah, I think I’ll get it! ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/15 "2002-12-12T19:25:22Z")
Hell yes, and my kids are getting it, too. I think the odds of a severe reaction in healthy people are an acceptable risk, given what could happen should you actually contract the disease. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/16 "2002-12-12T19:26:41Z")
Er…_is_ an acceptable risk. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/17 "2002-12-12T21:32:06Z")
I got vaccinated when I was young; I think the vaccine lasts about 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/18 "2002-12-12T22:48:23Z")
No one in the entire world has a case of smallpox today. There is a _remote_ possibility that some rogue state or terrorist has somehow managed to obtain a sample of the virus, a further _remote_ possibility that they will be able to use that as a terror weapon, and a further, even _more remote_ possibility that such terroristic use will be anywhere near me. If you get the vaccination there is a _remote_ possibility that you will die. So, right now, remote cubed \> remote, no vaccination for me. When news gets out that someone in Yemen has died of smallpox, then, sign me up. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/19 "2002-12-12T23:14:43Z")
A recent news story said that Saddam Hussein may have obtained a vaccine-proof smallpox strain from a Russian scientist- > **[MSNBC News - Breaking News and News Today | Latest News](https://www.msnbc.com/)** > > MSNBC breaking news and the latest news for today. Get daily news from local news reporters and world news updates with live audio & video from our team. “_A Central Intelligence Agency informant says the smallpox was brought to Iraq by a Russian scientist, Nelja Maltseva, who died two years ago. She is known to have visited Iraq in 1972. But now the CIA informant says she went back in 1990 to help Saddam’s bioterror experts._” If this is accurate, then the question of whether or not to vaccinate becomes moot. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260/20 "2002-12-12T23:25:06Z")
**shelbo** - “_So, right now, remote cubed \> remote, no vaccination for me._” I see what you’re saying here, but unless we actually quantify each of our ‘remotes’, we can’t say for certain that the ‘remote’ \< ‘remote cubed’. Also, your analysis is equating dying from smallpox and dying from smallpox vaccine. I would think that dying from the vaccine would be a much quicker and easier death than dying from the disease itself. But who knows? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-getting-the-smallpox-vaccine/142260.md?page=2)