# Who's got one of those giant immunization scars? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404 "2005-09-06T20:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![First\_Lady\_of\_Infinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@First\_Lady\_of\_Infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Lady_of_Infinity)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/21 "2005-09-07T02:16:29Z")
My brother, born 1968 in Georgia, has a whopper. I was born in 1969 in Georgia, and didn’t get the vaccination. However, I know for a fact that I’m supposed to have a scar. My brother’s injection site got very badly infected, and (Mom’s words) “His arm nearly rotted off!” Therefore, she delayed my vaccination as long as possible, and by the time I’d’ve been forced to have one, they were no longer required. I’m pretty sure that the requirement ended sometime between 1970 and 1973 here in Georgia, since I don’t think my kid sister (b. 1973) never faced the prospect. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/22 "2005-09-07T02:34:51Z")
I was born in 1970 in New Jersey. I never had the vaccination, so, no scar for me. Most of the kids in the graduating classes immediately before mine and some kids in my graduating class did have them, so I guess I just missed that era. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/23 "2005-09-07T02:40:07Z")
Born 1957, Ohio, have a scar about nickel sized on the back of my upper arm…barely noticeable. ---
**Author:** ![EnderWay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d26b3c/32.png) [@EnderWay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnderWay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/24 "2005-09-07T03:31:51Z")
Born 1966 mine is the size of a dime - hard to see though. [Routine smallpox vaccination among the American public stopped in 1972 after the disease was eradicated in the United States.](http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/vaccination/facts.asp) For those who say they were born befor 72 and don’t have one, check, you just might have it! Mine is rally hard to see! Look on your upper arm, I can only see mine by looking at all the little pores/indents for hair folicals. There is a small dime sized area with no pores. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/25 "2005-09-07T03:49:46Z")
I was born in 1970 in NYC. I am almost sure I have one. My mom doesn’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/26 "2005-09-07T04:12:38Z")
BZZT. The vaccine for TB leaves a scar too, and I’ve got one. It’s the size of an Australian 5 cent piece. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/27 "2005-09-07T04:25:39Z")
I was born in 1969, but never got the vaccine. I was sick when my mom took me in and they told her to bring me back when I was better. She didn’t. **Suburban Plankton** doen’t have a scar, but doesn’t know if her got vaccinated or not. He was born in 1967. Both of us were born in California. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/28 "2005-09-07T04:37:53Z")
Mine is barely noticable. But I’ve seen them all sizes. I couldn’t wait to have the cool scar, like my older sister and cousins. But after getting the vaccine, we weren’t allowed in the public pool, until the scab fell off. So, it kind of put a damper on my Summer fun. But the scab was cool. It was hard as a rock and stuck out about 1/4", and perfectly round. It looked like a hard crusty nipple. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/29 "2005-09-07T05:26:54Z")
> [@Dark Side of the Floyd](#): > > Jesus! **Cheese\_Whia** – Give us a little warning next time, willya? :eek: :eek: …Come to think of it, this thread probably explains that flat scar on my mother’s arm. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/30 "2005-09-07T05:38:18Z")
I was born in 1969. According to my immunization record, I got the smallpox vaccine, and I even vaguely remember the nurse tapping that funny needle against my arm. But I don’t have a scar. My husband has two. Maybe he got mine 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Penchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Penchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penchan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/31 "2005-09-07T05:58:04Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > Look at [this](http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/dittrick/smallpox/corlett.htm) I was eating chips, then I clicked on that link. Needless to say I put the chip I was holding back in the bag and closed it. No more eating for tonight. **Harmonix** : Haha my entire family also calls it the “fob scar” too. I’ve only seen older Asians with that particular scar. My mom (born in 1947 in Thailand) has one the size of a dime on her upper arm. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/32 "2005-09-07T06:04:23Z")
> [@Penchan](#): > > **Harmonix** : Haha my entire family also calls it the “fob scar” too. I’ve only seen older Asians with that particular scar. My mom (born in 1947 in Thailand) has one the size of a dime on her upper arm. I think most asians born in asian have it. I believe the youngest person I know who has it was born in taiwan. She’s 22. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/33 "2005-09-07T06:05:42Z")
So _ **THAT’S** _ what that is not some sort of cult/gang initiation kinda thing. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/34 "2005-09-07T06:14:32Z")
> [@Dark Side of the Floyd](#): > > Jesus! No, no … I don’t think He ever had smallpox, so I don’t think any of those are Him. 😛 My father and mother both have the scar, born 1953 and 1958, repectively. I was born in 1978, no scar. [mild hijack] I just got a booster shot done for my immigration medical (just needed an MMR), anyway, looking at this updated vaccination record, I notice under “polio”, it is marked “Not appropriate age”. What’s that mean? Did they only give those shots up to a certain year?[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/35 "2005-09-07T06:41:48Z")
1970 born in MA - none. Apparently it was recommended at one year of age and was discontinued in 1972 so theoretically I should have one. I wonder if it was given more realistically somewhere between one and two years which means I might have just hit the discontinuation since I was born in the fall of 1970. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/36 "2005-09-07T10:38:21Z")
I received mine in bootcamp in 1989. Half my company got the bigass scar, half didn’t. I asked a doctor about it one time (MilMed, so his answer may be suspect…) who said the size of the scar depends on how much one moved while getting shot. I don’t know how the immunization was given 'way back when but by '89 it was one of those gun things rather than a syringe, and instead of the bigass scar I have five (six? eight? I can’t even see them anymore) very small scars in a circle. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/37 "2005-09-07T11:07:37Z")
I don’t have the smallpox vaccination scar, but I do have a small (the size of a “pip” on a die) scar on my right shoulder from the MMR immunization. Which immunization was the sugar cube one, does anyone recall? Wasn’t that the dead Polio vaccine, not the weakened Polio virus shot or am I misremembering? ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/38 "2005-09-07T11:13:12Z")
Another alternative to the smallpox vacination may be the [BCG](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_Calmette-Gu%C3%A9rin), a tubercolosis vaccination. It leaves a pretty big scar on some occasions, but most of us seem to get off pretty lightly. I meantion this because of all the Asian references, and the fact that it is offered in school for free, together with polio (which is an orally administered syrup) for all Singaporeans. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/39 "2005-09-07T11:22:19Z")
I was born in 1969, and have the scar, it’s faint but it’s there. It was somewhat more visible when I was a kid, it faded a lot as I got older. It’s the sort of thing where you can’t see it at all in the winter when I am pale, and if I get a little sun in the summer, it looks like a slightly lighter patch of skin. My brother was born in 1972, and didn’t get the vaccine (it was available, but optional in 72). My mom (who bears the giant size scar) reports that sometime in the early 1960s, New York State switched from the BIG GIANT HONKING SCAR smallpox vaccine (possibly not the actual medical term) to a more moderate vaccine method that didn’t scar so much, which would explain why my scar is barely visible. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/40 "2005-09-07T11:47:10Z")
Born in 1955 in New Jersey. I’ve got one. All my friends did. My wife , also born in NJ, does too. None of these were discreet, tiny scars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404.md?page=3)