How many of you were vaccinated against smallpox? (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Nicholls]

I was vaccinated against smallpox back in the 1950's - still have the outline of the scar on my left shoulder to prove it.

I guess there is some thought in the medical community that the standard "cowpox" vaccination (which is a multi-lingual pun) may still be of some good decades later. See the quote below.

So how many of us here have been vaccinated? I would guess most of us here who were born prior to 1972 have been. Do you emotionally feel somewhat better if you have been?

The standard vaccine against smallpox confers surprisingly long-term immunity, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The finding could have implications for the design of a national vaccine strategy, which the federal government was still debating at press time.

During a separate investigation, researchers tested blood from 13 laboratory workers who had been vaccinated according to federal guidelines. Four had been vaccinated less than five years ago. Another nine had been vaccinated either between five and 35 years previously or more than 35 years previously.

The researchers next determined the strength of each individual's response to vaccinia exposure and found measures in the blood indicating that individuals who were vaccinated decades ago still reacted to the exposure, but at a slightly lower level than those more recently vaccinated.

"Resistance to vaccinia is waning, but not rapidly," said Jeffrey A. Frelinger, PhD, professor and chair of microbiology and immunology at the university's school of medicine.

Findings were reported in the Aug. 29 New England Journal of Medicine.

 

[Jay Taylor]

I was vaccinated for smallpox in the 50's also. Glad to hear that it may give some long-term immunity to the disease since it was earlier reported that vaccinations given decades ago provided virtually no immunity today.
Even if I didn't receive the vaccination in the past I don't think I'd want it today unless we were actually attacked with the smallpox virus. Here's why:
1. There is a window of opportunity to vaccinate individuals within four days of being exposed to the smallpox virus.
2. Smallpox infection used to kill up to 30 percent of those infected; however, today's medical care and treatment options in the U.S. would lower that death rate to 2-3 percent according to CDC experts (unless the virus has been genetically engineered to be more lethal).
3. Any use of smallpox virus in a bioterrorism attack is likely to be genetically engineered and diminish the effectiveness of the current vaccine.
4. The live virus vaccine causes reactions in almost everyone who gets it (fever, spread of vaccine virus to other parts of the body) and causes life-threatening reactions in 1 in 4,000 persons.
And other reasons listed by the National Vaccine Information Center here.
Jay Taylor

 

[SteveA]

I was vaccinated for smallpox in October of 1972 - at age eleven months. I'm probably one of the last people vaccinated. They discontinued the vaccinations that same year.

 

[Ron Etaylor]

I got it in 1971. I think it's interesting when they talk about "shots". I remember a few pokes with a vaguely pointed object(not at all painful) when I got mine.

 

[Karl_O]

Since I was born in 1975, I was not vaccinated. I am quite surprised that smallpox can be nearly eliminated while other diseases are not. I wonder why, for example, influenza.

Let us hope that smallpox does not make a return, as this disease caused so many pain and suffering in its history.

 

[NickT]

I got mine in March of 72. I have no memory of it since I was a baby, but I still have a faint scar on my shoulder from it.

The influenza virus mutates every year and there are many different strains as well, so any shot against it becomes usless after awhile. Smallpox doesn't mutate in nature, so 1 shot will give you immunity.

 

[Todd H]

Still have the scar from 1969.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Even if I didn't receive the vaccination in the past I don't think I'd want it today unless we were actually attacked with the smallpox virus.

That's pretty much the way I feel about it.

 

[Paul Jenkins]

scar present and accounted for from 1968. left arm, ugly thing

 

[Peter Kim]

I have a scar from an immunization on my left arm. However, I've forgotten to ask my parents what it's from. I was born in '69. Is the scar exclusive to the smallpox vaccine?

And, btw...why the left arm? And why was scarring involved when it came to the smallpox vaccine?

 

[NickSo]

I got it, but i was born in 1985... i got this weird scar on my left shoulder, i think that was it...

 

[Carl Johnson]

I was born in '74 so I haven't been vaccinated. I figure the odds of a smallpox outbreak are slim and even if it does happen I'm 99.9% confident that it won't be starting in Muncie Indiana. I'll be first in line to get it the day after Fox News reports an outbreak.

 

[Karl_O]

I am unsure why the left arm, but scarring is a practice that first originated by Edward Jenner, the British doctor who discovered the smallpox vaccine in the 1790s. I am unsure why scarring is done, but it is also done for vaccinating against other diseases.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The word "vaccine" comes from the word "vacca" for "cow". What they do is give you live cow pox viruses, and you get a mild case of cow pox. The scar is a cow pox pustule.

 

[Eric Kahn]

I got vaccinated in 1970 as a kid before we moved to germany
(father in air force then), I have no scar from it

 

[John Knowles]

I was born in November 1968 and had the smallpox vaccination. My wife, who was born in December 1971, didn't get it. I think shewas old enough to receive it not long after they discontinued it.

Since the reaction sounds unpleasant, She kind of wishes she had been vaccinated. Oh, well.

 

[Dennis Reno]

I was vaccinated in 1970. I asked Mom why I didn't have a scare on my arm from it. She believes both my sister and I received the vaccine in the foot. Anyone ever hear of this?

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Born in '68 and have the scar to prove it.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

My left arm was scared in the 50's. My wife has her scar on her upper left thigh. Girls were expected to bare their arm in dresses of the era, but it was understood that even bathing suits would probably cover upper thighs. With the change in styles, I wonder what area would be left for any of the Bay Watch babes?

I think getting a booster shot now would impose more risk to me than running the risk of contracting Smallpox naturally or by bio-warefare.

 

[Danny R]

Born in 1970 and no smallpox vacination. I have had an anthrax one though. Thats just a normal shot, not the repeated punch punch punch that smallpox uses.