I was born in 1970, which appears to have been right around the cutoff. Almost everyone I meet older than me was vaccinated, and almost no one younger was. Even if the age difference is only a year or two.
It would be the height of simple-mindedness to believe the islamofascists would not attempt to exploit this vulnerability.
I'm sure that plenty of groups would like to, but are they able? The last new case was in 1978.
More than 20 years ago, the official line was that only two live smallpox viruses existed on Earth -- one at the CDC in Atlanta, and one at a research center in Moscow. Unless the virus leaked out during the collapse of the USSR, or someone has been nurturing a smallpox culture for the last 25 years, there's no place to get the bug. I'm not sure if there are surviving smallpox patients, whether it's feasible to harvest virus from them, or how well-secured they are.
It does make me wonder why the U.S. government sounded the warning a couple of years ago, as well as why Iran is vaccinating its children. Are they being paranoid or overcautious, or do they know something we don't?
While this iranian report may not be accurate, you can bet your a$$ that this creul, sadistic medieval cult known as islam is working feverishly to weaponize this monstrous agent. Whatever happened to the administrations initiative to immunize the nation??
They did implement mandatory vaccination for military personnel, and made the option available for health care workers and other first responders. Supposedly, vaccine stockpiles are in place for rapid deployment.
Smallpox vaccination involves applying a live vaccinus virus to broken skin. It can get into the bloodstream, causing the disease. If we re-introduced nationwide vaccinations, a lot of kids would get sick, and a few would die. That was an acceptable risk when smallpox was a deadly threat, but it wasn't judged acceptable when it's apparently a remote one.
The bottom line here...is that Smallpox will eventually return to our civilization (through an accident or through a terrorist method). For scientists to sit there and think they eradicated it from the Earth...is a joke. Its still around. And we (maybe not in my generation)...will see a return.