[jaime1959]

BULLFEATHERS! You can still take the vaccine AFTER exposure and be protected, so there's no need to make it compulsory prior to exposure. The main thing is to have enough vaccine available.

And, I must add, that IMHO the threat of smallpox is WAYYYY overblown. The US and Russia had the last remaining smallpox virus. I don't buy into the concept that rogue scientists or the Russian mafia may have got their hands on it and sold it to terrorist groups.

[texasbluebell]

BULLFEATHERS! You can still take the vaccine AFTER exposure and be protected, so there's no need to make it compulsory prior to exposure. The main thing is to have enough vaccine available.

Yes, I've read the same thing. You can actually have the disease for up to 4 days, and be given the vaccination, which will then stop the disease apparently. As long as there's enough vaccine to go around, and the health authorities could get it distributed in time, it sounds like that would work.