# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/61 "2005-09-07T20:10:58Z")
I was born in 61 and have one. ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/62 "2005-09-07T20:27:13Z")
Born in '61, was vaccinated as a baby, but it didn’t take. The doctor told my mother not to worry, I’d get vaccinated in the military (the draft still being in effect), and sure enough, when I joined the Navy in '81, they vaccinated me and I got a dime size scar to show for it. In my case, the corpsman took a needle and dipped it a little vial of solution & jabbed me in the arm about 10 times what it… ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/63 "2005-09-08T04:35:33Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > My grandfather was a smallpox survivor! Scary thought to think that what I consider such a medieval disease was affecting people within recent generations. My greatgrandfather was a survivor, but he was blinded by the disease. My husband (born in Denmark) and I (born in the Dom. Rep.) were both born in 1970 and both have a pencil eraser-sized scar on the upper left arm. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/64 "2005-09-08T07:47:11Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > BZZT. The vaccine for TB leaves a scar too, and I’ve got one. It’s the size of an Australian 5 cent piece. As have I. I don’t know how big an Australian 5 cent piece is, but mine’s about a cm long, on my shoulderblade. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/65 "2005-09-13T03:56:48Z")
I think the sugar cubes were for polio. When they came out, somebody set up tents and tables outdoors at the juior high school in a nearby city and we all went to get them. As I recall there was a big bucket of sugar cubes and they would pull one out, and put a drop from a glass dropper onto the cube, and hand it to you to eat. Of course, I have the big smallpox scar on my shoulder. My grandfather had a big and funny scar from his vaccination - his father did it in about 1895 - I think the old man got something out of a cow to smear into the boy’s arm. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/66 "2005-09-13T06:53:03Z")
My father was born in '59 and he has one… my mother was born in '61. I don’t remember ever seeing a scar on her. They were both born in mainland China, Shandong province but my dad lived in the country and my mum was from the city. I was born in '88 and have never heard of anyone from my generation with the scar. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/67 "2005-09-13T07:06:21Z")
I was born in '62 and I remember being in Kindergarten and having to wear a clear plastic dome-type thing over my vaccination site until it healed. I have a tiny scar, hardly even visible now, about the size of a pencil eraser, on my upper left arm. I recall that it itched like hell, too. ---
**Author:** ![PooterMommy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@PooterMommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PooterMommy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/68 "2005-09-13T18:57:50Z")
Born in 1967 in Chicago. I do still have a dime-sized scar on my upper left arm, but it is fading because my upper arms are chubby now! :o ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/69 "2005-09-13T20:40:25Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Another person chiming in to say that that is the vaccination scar for smallpox. I don’t know when they stopped vaccinating for it, exactly, but I was born in 1968, and have the scar. My sister, (1972) I don’t think she has it. However, she was born in Canada, which is going to skew the results of this. I was born in 1971. I do not have one. They stopped that year, if I recall correctly from what my doctor told me. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404/70 "2005-09-13T20:41:57Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > I was born in 1971. I do not have one. They stopped that year, if I recall correctly from what my doctor told me. Duh. In Canada. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-got-one-of-those-giant-immunization-scars/320404.md?page=3)