[Scutter]

The ones that we got when we were kids lasted about 10 years without boosters.

[R.McGraw]

My daughter told me that they are good for twelve years. (Hope she was paying attention in nursing school!) Ruth

[EggsAckley]

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I heard someone on tv talking about it, and the answer was, they don't really know, because they quit giving them in the seventies. That was because they had "wiped out" smallpox, or so they thought.
A very good question, smileee.

[go star go]

you should be. although it's not nearly as survivable outside the lab...

[hd5574]

I was vaccinated as a baby and revaccinated about 18 yrs later when I went to college. The second vaccination did not take as the first one was still good. The same thing happened to my Mom when she went to Europe but there were a lot more years between her vaccinations than mine. Hope this helps you some.

[goodnesswins]

Keep your immune systems healthy folks...eat well, take vitamins, take care of yourselves and you'll be better prepared to fight any infectious diseases whether it's the flu or smallpox (well, w/smallpox it's probably good to stay away from sneezing/coughing people, too.) Just a little motherly advice. EAT THOSE VEGGIES!!!!

[GWfan]

No one knows for sure, because smallpox is all but eradicated since 1977 (the last known case). The World Health Organization has 300 million vaccines in Switzerland, it's HQ. Relax.

[Katie_Colic]

Ten years according to the web. We are all screwed by this incredible lack of foresight.

[ResistorSister]

Didn't have Smallpox vaccination

[AAABEST]

Now that we're on the subject, anyone know how long an anthrax vaccination lasts?

I got one about 10 years ago. Not that I think I have even the slightest chance of catching it, I am kinda curious though.

[Texas Yellow Rose]

About 10 years. Had an old doctor tell me to try and expose my son to mumps before he entered school instead of having the vaccination. He was concerned because the vaccination wouldn't last ... or I should say ... they didn't know how long it would last.

That was about 1979. Nobody had the mumps then .. nobody I could find.

If there was a small pox outbreak all of us would be in danger, I'm afraid.

[AngrySpud]

Military folks had to get it every 10 years, until recently.

[Movemout]

From a fact sheet at Cornell:

If I was vaccinated against smallpox before 1980, am I still protected?

Probably not. Vaccination has been shown to wear off in most people after 10 years but may last longer if the person has been successfully vaccinated on multiple occasions. If health authorities determine that you have been exposed to smallpox or are at risk of infection, they would recommend that you be re-vaccinated immediately.

[CJinVA]

I think the vaccinations are good for 10 years, and that they stopped giving them to children around 1977.

[Ratatoskr]

So, which vaccine is it that gave everybody over the age of 35 or so that little oval scar on the right shoulder? Was that smallpox, or TB?

Friends were trying to remember last night.

[curmudgeonII]

In theory, one vaccination may last for a lifetime. A live virus is used for vaccination purposes----it is thought that the virus exists in cells permanently and, from time to time, is released in small quantities into the blood stream, keeping antibodies at a high level.

[Jean S]

There is a lot of information about smallpox available here:

http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v281n22/ffull/jst90000.html

[Faith-Hope]

I was first vaccinated in 1948. Sometime around 1965 I had a second vaccination and it did not take. My Doctor told me at that time the first was still good. I'm not sure anyone knows how long the vaccinations last.

[ODDITHER]

Ten years. When I couldn't get my youngest daughter a small pox vaccination, I was horrified. I couldn't believe that with small pox in the Middle East still, we aren't vaccinating. Small Pox on the back of stamps - Easy to do and easy to spread. If you have ever seen a case of small pox it is just horrifying. We would see children so covered with the pox that the mothers would carry them naked because they couldn't stand to have anything touching their skin. Most of them die, as will our children.

[Blackadar]

A few years back the Ontario government tried to make all kids in grades 7 and 8 get vaccinated for mumps. The reason was that there were supposed to have been batches of vaccine used years previously which turned out to have given no immunity. Over the course of raising 3 kids I observed that there seemed to be more and more needles given so I started to read up on this. I didn't like a lot of what I read especially in light of the fact that pharmaceutical companies do have a vested interest and a very close relationship to the federal government. So I decided instead of getting more needles to have a blood titre done on each of my kids for the antibodies in question. I got a few odd looks at the clinic, but I got what I wanted and the titres all came back showing my kids had immunity. I was then able to give scientific proof to the snotty health nurses who tried to play the old " your kids will be removed from school" threat. I did find that natural immunity from having a sickness like chicken pox is lifelong where as artificially immunity runs out after 10 years. There was some suggestion in what I read that this was deliberate on the part of the pharmeceutical companies because it is a money maker for them. After all if there is no sickness, they are out of business. It is hard to know who to believe. Obviously there is a place for vaccinations.