# What happened to th vaccine gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580 "2012-10-23T00:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/21 "2012-10-23T22:07:01Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > What kind of range do those things have? Could they be used against the anti-vac crowd? Possibly. But Sarah Brady had them banned. Although there’s a persistent rumor she still has one. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/22 "2012-10-24T02:07:32Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I was of that age but never had a pneumatic vaccination. My dad did, and I still remember him saying, “Hell, yes!” when I asked him if it hurt. > . > [@kunilou](#): > > Hell yes, indeed it hurt! Parochial school, 1969, and goddamn right it hurt. It was like being punched in the arm, and I was really mad because they told me it wouldn’t. > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Is that what made the scar that just about everybody in my generation and older has on their upper arm? > [@GilaB](#): > > Do you mean something that looks like [this](https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/476203/view)? That’s from the BCG tuberculosis injection. > [@Sigene](#): > > I believe the scar is from small pox vaccinations, not BCG. Huh, all along I connected the injection gun to the scar on my upper arm, but I was wrong. Ignorance fought! ---
**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:** [October 24, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/23 "2012-10-24T02:20:59Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I believe the scar is from small pox vaccinations, not BCG. Probably smallpox if you’re from the US; we don’t really administer the BCG vaccine here. The smallpox vaccine would have been administered via [3-4 jabs with a two-pronged (bifurcated) needle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox#Prevention), so it does produce a rather odd scar. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/24 "2012-10-24T02:50:47Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I remember running a gantlet of guys armed with those things when I reported to basic training. IIRC we got three in the left arm and two in the right arm, or was it two in the left and one in the right? Anyway, all but one of them were vaccines. The last one was an antibiotic they gave us just because. Those injections hurt like a dirty SOB and young soldiers are sadistic in their humor, so there was a lot of arm punching over the ensuing several days. At Benning, the next room was carpeted in wrestling mats. I remember that the unconscious were laid out Dress-Right-Dress. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/25 "2012-10-24T03:08:46Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Probably smallpox if you’re from the US; we don’t really administer the BCG vaccine here. > > The smallpox vaccine would have been administered via [3-4 jabs with a two-pronged (bifurcated) needle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox#Prevention), so it does produce a rather odd scar. It is not the needle that causes the scars Soylent and Brad have. The needle carries [Vaccinia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinia) virus which infects and causes a lesion which then scabs over and scars. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/26 "2012-10-24T19:37:45Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > At least nobody was wearing a watch, right? I believe, but can’t find a cite either way, that the “watch” in Spartacus was a wristband, and the “tennis shoes” were sandals. All of this came out with the first HD release of the film; blurry res made those items look like a watch and tennies. There’s so much crap on line from the remake and TV series that I can’t nail down either one. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/27 "2012-10-24T19:56:03Z")
I had a vaccine from the gun at school in the early ‘70s. I can’t remember whether it hurt. I do remember the weird, swirly wound and resulting scar – long since faded on my arm but it’s visible on many of my contemporaries’ arms. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/28 "2012-10-24T20:08:27Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > It is not the needle that causes the scars Soylent and Brad have. The needle carries [Vaccinia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinia) virus which infects and causes a lesion which then scabs over and scars. I thought the scar came from cutting off the little cow’s head that grows. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/29 "2012-10-24T20:39:00Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I thought the scar came from cutting off the little cow’s head that grows. I believe you are thinking of the French Pox. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/30 "2012-10-24T21:10:25Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I believe you are thinking of the French Pox. Interestingly enough, the French call it “The English disease.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580/31 "2012-10-24T21:19:31Z")
So out of wonder, could you use Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) to quickly and painlessly administer vaccines (i.e. a painless “vaccination gun”)? I know that it very quickly absorbs through the skin, taking along anything you dissolve in it. Would the proteins in the vaccination not hold up in the solution or is there some other reason it’s not practical? (I hear DMSO is relatively cheap too, so I assume it’s not a cost issue) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-th-vaccine-gun/638580.md?page=1)