The CDC says that routine vaccination for smallpox stopped in the US in 1971. So, just about 50 years ago.
But that still leaves room for non-routine vaccination, and vaccination of individuals outside the US. A friend of mine from Ecuador, for instance, would be in his 40s now, and once showed me his smallpox vaccination scar.
This brings up a question. If I had the vaccination back when I was a kid, which I did, is there any way for me to get a booster vaccination? Can doctor’s still “prescribe” one?
Well, yes, in theory your doctor could prescribe one, but I doubt you’d actually get the vaccine unless there was a reason to justify it in your case.
Better hope it’s not the Soviet bioweapon version of smallpox that gets out:
Oh, yeah, that’s a nasty one, far worse than the original version of smallpox. That one has the potential to wipe out a majority of the human population and crash civilization.
I keep hoping that the Soviets came to their senses and destroyed it, but I’m not sure anyone knows for sure what happened to the samples.
I agree with Monty here, he raises some very cogent points. Note that that anti-vaxxers hate the measles vaccine and measles isnt some new disease.
I wonder, is my old smallpox vaccine shot still good?
Yeah, immediate as opposed to longer, two different scenarios, i concur.
And if the failure is hidden- then more issues.
Yep I still have a scar, I think.
Nope. Only good for about 10 years.
Yep, that’s the one.
I still have my scar 55 years later. It’s very much faded, but it’s still there if you look for it.
There are stores of the old vaccine, they went and made more of it after 9/11. There are also some other, newer versions but since there is no smallpox they haven’t been actually tested.
The old vaccine was first developed in 1790-something. No, that’s not a typo, that really is a “17” to start that year. Needless to say, they did not have the same requirements back then we do now. The old vaccine had a relatively high rate of complications and deaths associated with it and, being a live vaccine, could spread infection to others. I don’t think it would pass muster with modern standards, it was basically grandfathered in.
Still better than getting actual smallpox, though.
Fistbump of solidarity.
The antibodies are probably lifelong, although it’s unknown how well they would work should full-strength virus (i.e. variola major) somehow get out into the population.
I have never believed that only two deep freezes contain it, either. Here’s an example from our own country, just a few years ago.
There have been cases of people who were vaccinated catching smallpox - there actually is some compelling evidence (like deceased people) that the vaccine is not effective at preventing disease or death past about 10 years.
Does this mean that in a real emergency situation you could vaccinate a few people and have them spread it to others, if there wasn’t enough vaccine stockpiled? You’d know if it had worked by the formation of a scar.
I only learned recently that smallpox can spread via airborne transmission; I’d always thought it was a skin-contact only disease.
That’s true (the 1978 incident in England was proof of that) but the disease is not as severe.
Still not something I want to find out the hard way, that’s for sure.
That was simply incomprehensible. Care to try again?
Deliberately spread infectious cowpox to combat smallpox. Smallpox is a bit unusual in that, while the vaccine contains “live” virus, it’s not the same virus.
In theory, you could do that for most diseases. You could develop a strain of COVID that is more contagious, but is asymptomatic, which could inoculate the population without anyone have to get a jab.
Just hope it doesn’t mutate into a less benign variant.
Yes, exactly (well, technically you’d be spreading vaccinia, which isn’t (any longer?) the same as cowpox).
According to this, early vaccinations were done person-to-person:
There would be a risk of transmitting other diseases, but if the alternative is catching one of the nastier strains of variola major…