[bonesmccoy]

That is not the whole story. There were many physicians using small pox vaccine until the late 1970's.

[Miss Marple]

From where did this idea surface that this vaccination is very dangerous? I am 53. I would venture 99% of people over 40 in the USA were vaccinated for smallpox. It was a REQUIREMENT to enter elementary school, college, and the military and a REQUIREMENT to re-enter the USA if travelling abroad. I have had 3 smallpox vaccinations in my lifetime, once at age 5, once at age 17, and once at age 23.

My husband, my sisters and brother, and my mother were also vaccinated. My son was vaccinated in 1969 at the US Army Hospital in Berlin so that I could bring him home to the USA. He was 10 months old.

I think this decision is ridiculous. Voluntary vaccinations should be encouraged. The only thing I can figure out is that the supply of vaccine is far smaller than we have been told, and that they don't want to start a panic. Otherwise, this decision makes no sense to any rational person.

[Paleo Conservative]

That is not the whole story. There were many physicians using small pox vaccine until the late 1970's.

Were there many physicians in the 1970's who were afraid of the potential use of smallpox as a biological weapon in the future?