Memorable Shot: Smallpox Vaccine Has Lasting Effect (40's-50's Vaccination Still Good)

Science News Magazine ^ | 5-31-2003 | John Travis

[Ditter]

My sons were born in '63 & '66 & I remember them being vaccinated. My daughter was born in '72. I just can't remember if she was or not. She has no visable scar. Do you suppose I can't remember because I was really really busy? LOL

[McGavin999]

That's what I've been saying all along. Once the body learns how to fight things, it remembers. I had always planned on not getting re-vaccinated because any emergency vaccinations should be given to the most vulnerable. I figured I could count on both my healthy immune system and the fact that I had been vaccinated many, many......many (sigh) years ago.

[Ditter]

What do you mean booster? A smallpox vaccination has no booster. That was your DPT (diptheria, typhoid & whooping cough) , polio etc.

[riri]

hmmm. 1969. Maybe, I did. However, I do not have a scar, so I don't think so.

[lonestar]

I got mine at school--before you were in first grade. That was in Houston.

[LizardQueen]

Then it's recorded wrong or badly on the card - only type of vax mentioned on it is the smallpox, the other lines contain just a scribbled "booster" and the date, which is more recent thn the smallpox so I thought they were smallpox boosters. Bummer, that means my shot is older than I thought.

Lq

[Clinging Bitterly]

I was vaccinated in the '60s. They said then that if it left a scar, it made you immune permanently. I have the mark, and I don't plan on getting another vaccination.

[backhoe]

I was vaccinated in the early 50's. How about you?

Circa 1955... I still would not object to a booster, just to be sure.

[blam]

" (DDT is safe: just ask the professor who ate it for 40 years...) "

Reminds me of a book I read, I think it was titled, The naked Lunch.

[backhoe]

Well, I really wouldn't try eating the stuff, but we did play in the clouds of DDT from the "skeeter truck" when it went by the house- childishly thinking, "bad for bugs, good for me!" It honestly didn't seem to cause any harm to humans- the stuff they spray now stinks, makes the bugs hyperactive, and does not kill them at all.

[Judith Anne]

I was revaccinated at my request in 71 (Hub and I both) for a trip outside the country...neither of ours took, doctor said it was because we were still immune.

It was the third vaccine for both of us, we got them in the early fifties first, then in the 60s. I'd like to know what the smallpox titers are, for the decades after vaccination...

[nopardons]

This article is correct and I've been saying the same thing ( got my answer from a prominant, highly regarded doctor, who happens to be a friend ) when it first cropped up on FR and the virtual hypocondriacs/hysterics were in full throttle. They were dead wrong, I was right, and the hysteric health threads, on FR are not only a damned waste of bandwidth, they are about as useful as lipstick on a pig !

[Alas Babylon!]

I got my last smallpox innoculation in 1979. Lucky me. I was going overseas then in service to my country!

[not-an-ostrich]

Vaccinated in 1946. In fact I have a photo of me at the time with a large bandage on my arm.

[Owen]

Folks, it is probability. If you were vaccinated decades ago, 90% of you are safe. 10% of you are not. If you are vaccinated recently, that 90% number rises towards 100% (never reaching it, of course). The guy in the article who still advocated mass vaccinations is thinking in these terms. 10% of 260 million is 26 million vulnerable people.

But for your individual case, if you got the shot decades ago your odds are pretty good.

[clodkicker]

A question. Would the immunity pass to our children if we had the shot?

[blam]

"A question. Would the immunity pass to our children if we had the shot?"

I don't think so, someone in the know will be by soon and answer your question. (bump)

[pttttt]

If you want to get another one, NIH is having clinical trials. See NIH Seeks Subjects For Smallpox Vaccine Trials.