And Now, the Good News about Smallpox

Slate ^ | October 26, 2001 | Jon Cohen

[Deborah63]

Can someone tell me hat the Small pox vaccine scar looks like? I have heard differing ideas. I thought the large scar was a polio vaccine...but perhaps I am wrong. D

[arkfreepdom]

We will need more than 60% of the population to be immune for herd immunity to stop an epidemic....although I do agree with your point. Even with significant immunization for diphtheria, we still have occasional outbreaks. No epidemics though.

[arkfreepdom]

The scar is from the smallpox vaccination, and is located on your upper arm.

[syriacus]

This IS good news. Far better than what we thought. At least we'll have the older folks around to nurse the younger ones back to health, until vaccinations are given out.

I'm glad you posted this.

[Deborah63]

Well looks like that vaccine was stopped in this area for people born after 1962....oh well! Debbie

[Geezerette]

Sad to say, I think James Herriott is no longer among the living. He was wonderful! I read all his books!

g

[abner]

The entire population isn't at extreme risk in the event of a smallpox attack.

Great news! Its just the children at risk. All of the children.

I'm not worried about me, just my son.

[Sabertooth]

Well looks like that vaccine was stopped in this area for people born after 1962

Check your pediatric records. Virtually beveryone born in the 1960s was vaccinated for smallpox.

[snopercod]

Last week I took a small position in Bioreliance [BREL] - the company that makes smallpox vaccine, he.he.hey.

[Deborah63]

WEll that is why I am questioning the scar. If it is the large scar on the upper arm..then I definitely don't have it...but if it is a different scar it is possible. No one in our area born after 1962 has the large scar. Are we sure that wasn't a polio vaccine?

[OK]

However, it is bound to spread to other parts of the world where they don't have money for prevention. It is bound to get back to the middle east, with international travel the way it is now. Far more of them will die.

I agree. People can think of ways to argue that point, but powerful people in the Islamic countries know this disease can not be contained in the target country like Anthrax can. Unless we start seeing mass inoculation for smallpox in Islamic countries and China, there is little reason for worry on this. Anyone contemplating such a thing would be put out of his misery by the powers that be in China, Russia, etc.

[Geezerette]

I hope you're just kidding! We geezers would go back to work should something like that happen!!

g

[Sabertooth]

Great news! Its just the children at risk. All of the children.

I'm not worried about me, just my son.

Hey, I've got a 14 year-old daughter, and I'm not unconcerned. But this also makes it less likely that we would transmit smallpox to our kids if we're exposed. If there's an outbreak in my area, she won't leave the house until the CDC has vaccinations on the ground, which will probably be within 48 hours of a confirmed case. That's what the 75 million doses will be held in reserve for, to target infected communities. They plan to come in like a SWAT team with the vaccinations.

This isn't perfect news, but it's very good news.

[newzjunkey]

True, but if 30% of our children die, life will not be worth living for many people.

Forget "The Children" for a minute.

What about whole families: young kids and their under 29 parents?

I had no idea *40%* of America is 29 and under. You wouldn't know it with the way the Boomer's act. I hope when they start the vaccinations up again they start with the unvaccinated and don't decide to treat this on an outbreak-by-outbreak basis.

[Sabertooth]

Smallpox is the one that makes the scar, not polio. Mine is much less visible now than it once was, but I can feel it. It's low on side of the left shoulder, right in the middle.

Most smallpox scars are there, but some people were vaccinated in other places. Check your records. Smallpox vaccines were virtually universal during the 60s.

[JenB]

Hopefully, since breastfeeding has come back in vogue in the past 30 years or so, many children may have gotten some sort of protection from their mothers who were vaccinated. It may help them a little bit; it may make the difference between life and death.

Can any doctor or other knowledgable person report what the likelihood that immunity would pass on is? I know it works for some things, but is smallpox one of them? In that case a great many younger children would indeed have a good chance of being immune, as I know breastfeeding has exploded in the past ten years especially.

If this is the case, I shall have to thank my mother for breastfeeding me and my siblings.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Not everyone got a scar from the smallpox vacination. I remember getting a small pox booster shot as a child (I got my first smallpox shot as an infant). My mother, who is still living, recently confirmed it. I have no vacination scar and neither does my older sister. My older brother has a scar. (I'm in my 40s).

[newzjunkey]

I am *not* the children.
My friends are *not* the children.
Their wives are *not* the children.
Their boyfriend are *not* the children.
Their girlfriends are *not* the children.
Their employees are *not* the children.
Their co-workers are *not* the children.
Their grocery clerks are *not* the children.
Their nurses are *not* the children.
Their chefs are *not* the children.
Their teachers are *not* the children.

Their kids, however, *are* the children.

All are unvaccinated against smallpox.

Enough with The Children already. It's downright offensive and smacks of age-ism and generational arrogance.

Were you part of the generation that decided we could go without the mandatory vaccinations because you had vanquished it?

[newzjunkey]

...and even harder to deliver effectively.

These are people have clearly and undeniably demonstrated a eager willingness to die. They won't care about being infected with smallpox if that's what it takes to deliver death to our door.

[patent]

However, it is bound to spread to other parts of the world where they don't have money for prevention. It is bound to get back to the middle east, with international travel the way it is now. Far more of them will die.

Good point. Many in all parts of the Third World could die from this, not just in the Muslim areas.

patent  +AMDG