I think the simple answer to yor question is - some of them did become ill or die. We just were not aware they did. Vaccines were much more dangerous then, and this is an old vaccine. As the article I am going to link to below says, we have just become used to vaccines with less risk than this one has. The reason they have not lined up everyone for these is because it is going to cause some significant problems and they are trying to work out how they will handle those problems in advance.
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>A lot of people think getting the smallpox vaccine "is like going in and getting a flu shot," said Dr. Michael Welch of the Richmond Department of Public Health. "It's not."
There is a short list of who should not get the vaccine, but it could add up to a lot of people. Experts say pregnant women should not. Nor should people with chronic and severe skin infections or those with compromised immune systems from HIV or and organ transplants, for example.
Pre-event vaccinations also could put health-care workers in a bind.
"The area of the vaccination ends up being contagious for a little while," Smithson said. "It can give people vaccinia. Hospitals deal with immunocompromised patients. How do you give it to your staff and then say you cannot be around any immunosuppressed people for 10 days?"
The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices a few weeks ago came out with a statement that said as long as the vaccination area was covered by a bandage, vaccinated health-care workers would not have to miss work. The recommendations were forwarded to the CDC, which still needs to sign off on them.
Smithson points out that the patient literature that comes with the Dryvax vaccine seems to imply more caution. The precautions say: "Recently vaccinated health-care workers should avoid contact with patients, particularly those with immunodeficiencies, until the scab has separated from the skin at the vaccination site."
It later tells health-care workers what steps to take if contact with patients is "essential and unavoidable."
At a meeting of the Secure Virginia Initiative's health and medical subpanel, one county health official said informal conversations with his staff turned up quite a few people who would not be eligible to get the vaccine or who simply did not want it.
Kaplowitz said the answer may be to consider regional teams instead of teams at individual hospitals or by cities or counties.
"We can't force anybody to take the vaccine, and this will be an issue," Kaplowitz said.
Smithson said public expectations may be against pre-event vaccinations on any large scale. Because vaccines have been made safer over the years, people don't expect any casualties.
"When there were mostly live virus vaccines, over 20 to 30 years ago, there were a certain number who died. Now that we have these vaccines that are much safer, we have not had those bad outcomes," Smithson said. "The American people are used to zero deaths and zero complications. That makes it a little tougher."<
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http://timesdispatch.com/news/vametro/MGBV48GBM8D.html
Look, the smallpox vacination almost killed me, when I first got it and I was a tiny child. Back then, people knew that their were risks; they just didn't sue everyone, when they sneezed. That's the problem, today; many people ( including a lot of FREEPERS ! )just can't see the forest for the trees. I guess that they'd rather GET smallpox, than be somewhat discomfitted from the shot. Oh well, those who get the shot and those who don't, will all probably sue the government and the drug companies,no matter what happens.
BTW, this talked about smallpox vacine, is NOT " old ", it's new and is coming from England.One of my friends is an expert, who works as a consultant ( and sometimes doctor, as he did during 9/11/01 ) for the CDC. I'll take his word for this stuff; rather than an article posted on FR and / or the hysterical posts, from people who don't have ALL of the facts.