Question:
I got the vaccine back in 1966 and still have the round scar on the top of my arm from it! I’m going with my hunches and not going through it again…figure once was enough for me.
Different vaccine, but- I got a BCG (TB) immunization back in the late 60s. That causes any subsequent TB tests to react positively. Several years ago, I had to be tested for TB for a class I was taking. I called the health dept to ask how long that immunization usually lasts and what to do and they suggested having the nurse use a diluted solution. She used like 1/4 or 1/2 of the normal strength and I still got a big nasty reaction. So so as near as I can tell that one still works (I still had to get a chest xray, though, to prove I didn’t have it). Lee
Response:
Hi Jennifer, Not far-fetched at all! I have this scenario playing on loop in my head, Carmen. I can see lines backed up for people to get the shots!! I’m seriously considering volunteering to help give the inoculations when/if the crisis arrives. Perhaps, you can get the shots now, if you want to volunteer.
I found a call on my answering machine this afternoon. A meeting of all the local volunteers for the agency we volunteer as emergency comms for is calling an urgent meeting Tuesday night, and guess what the subject is? Yup. Small pox. Someone from Public Health will be there, and I’m very curious as to what the agenda is, since the message said it had to do with *us*, the volunteers. If we’re offered the vaccine I’m going to take it. If I ever got it I don’t have a scar, and that’s unlikely. Same with DH. (He was born in 1963, me in 1967) This is the loop: Talk shows, news magazines, and all other yellow journalists will foretell the perils of the vaccination. Soon, there will be public outrage. "You can’t make me take that shot!" (which they can’t—yet) There will be talk of governmental conspiracies involving secret medical studies…Until the first case hits, then the chaos will truly begin! People fighting in long lines, thinking there is an elitist plot to vaccinate the wealthy/powerful first, general panic, and much death.
I read something in the local paper today that put a spin on the panic scenario that I had given no consideration at all. They foresaw Mexicans coming north in an attempt to gain access to health care resources their own government was unlikely to be able to provide. Theoretically that could happen from our northern neighbor, but I’d like to think the Canadian government has or is developing plans to protect their citizens too. If no one waits, people will die. If everyone waits, more people will die. It’s a dice roll either way, as far as I can tell. But, as I’ve had many vaccinations, I’m already a high-roller.
I take much bigger risks every day than the vaccine poses. I found a page that gives the various odds of dying due to different causes. Couple of examples: All "Lifetime odds" below: 1 in 55,578 of being killed by lightning 1 in 5,822 of being killed as a result falling due to tripping, slipping or stumbling – on a flat surface! Here’s a link to the page: http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm I have much more research to study, but I think I might avoid the panic and get vaccinated early.
Me too. I’m just looking for an opportunity. :-) — Take care, Carmen Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do as it damn well pleases. Harvard’s Law
Response:
I found a call on my answering machine this afternoon. A meeting of all the local volunteers for the agency we volunteer as emergency comms for is calling an urgent meeting Tuesday night, and guess what the subject is? Yup. Small pox. Someone from Public Health will be there, and I’m very curious as to what the agenda is, since the message said it had to do with *us*, the volunteers. If we’re offered the vaccine I’m going to take it. If I ever got it I don’t have a scar, and that’s unlikely. Same with DH. (He was born in 1963, me in 1967)
Well, aren’t I sage…lol! Cool. AFAIK, they will offer your family the same opportunity. My mother was the public official of such a meeting yesterday. The topic was bioterrorism. I haven’t spoken to her about it yet, but she led me to believe it was about coordinating emergency plans for a public health disaster. I’ll ask her later this evening. Let you know if there is more. I read something in the local paper today that put a spin on the panic scenario that I had given no consideration at all. They foresaw Mexicans coming north in an attempt to gain access to health care resources their own government was unlikely to be able to provide. Theoretically that could happen from our northern neighbor, but I’d like to think the Canadian government has or is developing plans to protect their citizens too.
Hadn’t thought of that either. Yuck. I find it doubtful that they will have enough vaccine for everyone. I mean our government isn’t especially known for their expert number crunching. LOL. Maybe they should get their estimates from Price Waterhouse or one of the major credit card companies? Take care, Carmen Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do as it damn well pleases. Harvard’s Law
– Mdmquincy (Jennifer)
Response:
I was vaccinated twice for smallpox .. once in grade school with innoculation, and again in high school with the then new-fangled oral vaccine … I’m still here 
Are you sure you aren’t talking about the polio vaccine? I don’t believe they’ve had an oral small pox vaccine.
Yes, of course! Duh! I ws thinking of the "booster" shots that they gave every few years back then, got it momentarily confused with the oral polio vaccine. Happens with old age <g I’d be happy to donate my already-immune blood :) Why is it men are always anxious to volunteer body fluids?
lmao! — Peter Website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – —
Response:
Hi Peter, You cannot contract smallpox from the vaccine; the virii are dead. The extremely small percentage of people who die from the vaccine are from rare allergic reactions.
Just a nitpick here. :-) The part where you wrote "You cannot contract smallpox from the vaccine…" is correct. The reason you can’t get smallpox from the vaccine is because the virus used is a related virus, but not the smallpox virus itself. Smallpox virus is "Variola" and the vaccine virus is "Vaccinia". It *is* a live virus vaccine though. The deaths almost exclusively result from the vaccinia virus killing enough skin tissue to take the person out. Kind of like the nasty that you may have heard about – "the flesh eating virus". Yes Virginia. There *are* so many boring facts crammed into my head that it’s a miracle it doesn’t explode. <G — Take care, Carmen Geocachers get right to the point. http://members14.clubphoto.com/carmen634742/guest-1.phtml
Response:
I live in a relatively small farm town, relatively distant from any large population centers. …However, your son may move to the city eventually.
Hey, when he’s old enough to move to the city on his own, he’ll be old enough to weigh the risks and decide for himself. — Jason Baugher 355/310/215 LC since 10/1/02 mini-goal: under 300 by Xmas
Response:
I live in a relatively small farm town, relatively distant from any large population centers.
…However, your son may move to the city eventually.
Response:
Hi Jason, Which would be worse, having your kid die from the vaccination, and years from now looking back, knowing that there never was a smallpox outbreak, knowing that they could still be alive? Or not vaccinating, and having the outbreak, and knowing that maybe if you’d vaccinated, they might still be alive? It’s a tough choice, and one that I hope I won’t have to make. But if it comes down to it, I’ll probably choose NOT to vaccinate unless an outbreak has been detected somewhere.
For me there would be no real dilemma. Death rates from the vaccination are given as 1 to 2 deaths per million vaccinations. Death rates from active infection in a completely susceptible population run about 3 in 10. Death rates in a population where inoculations are given *after* an attack are projected to be 2.4 to 9.4 per 1000 cases, depending on the percentage of persons in that population who had been previously vaccinated. The combination of factors that make me choose in favor of prior vaccination is firstly the odds. The best odds are with those with prior vaccination. The second one is having studied basic immunology. There’s a whole array of things that factor into immunity, and even the modest coursework I’ve had so far is enough to convince me of the value of vaccination programs, risk and all. I’m not saying your choice isn’t valid, BTW. I’m just explaining why my choice differs. :-) — Take care, Carmen Geocachers get right to the point. http://members14.clubphoto.com/carmen634742/guest-1.phtml
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Jason, Which would be worse, having your kid die from the vaccination, and years from now looking back, knowing that there never was a smallpox outbreak, knowing that they could still be alive? Or not vaccinating, and having the outbreak, and knowing that maybe if you’d vaccinated, they might still be alive? It’s a tough choice, and one that I hope I won’t have to make. But if it comes down to it, I’ll probably choose NOT to vaccinate unless an outbreak has been detected somewhere. For me there would be no real dilemma. Death rates from the vaccination are given as 1 to 2 deaths per million vaccinations. Death rates from active infection in a completely susceptible population run about 3 in 10. Death rates in a population where inoculations are given *after* an attack are projected to be 2.4 to 9.4 per 1000 cases, depending on the percentage of persons in that population who had been previously vaccinated. The combination of factors that make me choose in favor of prior vaccination is firstly the odds. The best odds are with those with prior vaccination. The second one is having studied basic immunology. There’s a whole array of things that factor into immunity, and even the modest coursework I’ve had so far is enough to convince me of the value of vaccination programs, risk and all. I’m not saying your choice isn’t valid, BTW. I’m just explaining why my choice differs. :-)
So then the chances of my son dying from pre-attack vaccination are 1-2 per million. The chances of him dying from post-attack vaccination will of course vary with location of the attack and location of us, but let’s go with your 2.4-9.4 per 1000. What that doesn’t take into account is the odds of the attack happening at all in the first place, which of course are pretty much impossible to calculate. I live in a relatively small farm town, relatively distant from any large population centers. My guess would be that IF smallpox hit NYC or LA or wherever, we’d know about it here with at least some advance notice. Assuming that vaccinations were on hand at all hospitals, how much advance is needed to make the vaccinations fully effective? If you got vaccinated today, how many days until you are in the 1-2 per million category? Maybe part of my reluctance is because I don’t trust doctors in general. I know too many mis-diagnosed, over-medicated people. My sister almost died during her last pregnancy because her doctor was a moron. My great- uncle went in to the hospital this week for an exam and was dead in a few hours. I had an emergency room doctor years ago tell me I had a respiratory infection – when I didn’t get better and went to the local ambulatory clinic, I found out it was mono+strep throat. I’ve seen way too many cases where doctors swore by one idea until it was proven wrong, and then swore by the new idea and tried to act like they were never wrong in the first place. As LC people, we see this all the time. So, I tend to lean towards, "I’ll go to the doctor if I’m desperate (smallpox outbreak), but until then, I’m not going to let them screw me up ahead of time (vaccination)." 
As for whether anyone will release smallpox…. I kind of doubt it. I figure if anyone had it now, and wanted to do it, they would have done it already. They know it won’t kill us all, and will just make us more determined. After all, if the bin Laden’s of the world, who think anyone not Muslim is evil and must be killed, had a way to off 3 out of 10 of us, I think they’d jump at the chance. — Jason Baugher 355/310/215 LC since 10/1/02 mini-goal: under 300 by Xmas
Response:
I was vaccinated twice for smallpox .. once in grade school with innoculation, and again in high school with the then new-fangled oral vaccine … I’m still here
Are you sure you aren’t talking about the polio vaccine? I don’t believe they’ve had an oral small pox vaccine. You cannot contract smallpox from the vaccine; the virii are dead. The extremely small percentage of people who die from the vaccine are from rare allergic reactions.
Here’s the rub! I don’t know for certain they are using the 30-40 yr. old stuff or a newer vaccine? I was told the older, but all the news isn’t in yet. … Then again, I don’t fly despite the statistics in favor of surviving an airplane trip ;)
You got to be kidding, cuz you got me trippin’. <G I’d be happy to donate my already-immune blood :)
Why is it men are always anxious to volunteer body fluids? — Peter Website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo
Mdmquincy (Jennifer)
Response:
This is one of my major concerns, Jason! There is no guarantee that your child will ever be exposed to polio, and you’ve had him vaccinated right? Little to no chance, that he has PKU, you had him tested,etc… I’m hoping to see the numbers line up for this vaccination vs. the others. I hope you don’t have to make the choice either! — Mdmquincy (Jennifer)
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I agree that it isn’t that farfetched that it could happen, but it’s still an IF. Maybe I’d get vaccinated if I had the opportunity, but how can I in good conscience take my 1 1/2 year old boy to get vaccinated when I know there is a very small, but still possible, risk of it killing him? On the one hand, the vaccination MIGHT kill him. On the other hand, someone MIGHT release smallpox on us, and we MIGHT not have time to get him vaccinated in time before it gets here, and he MIGHT die from it. I KNOW that USA-wide vaccination might kill him – I DON’T KNOW if anyone will ever release smallpox. Which would be worse, having your kid die from the vaccination, and years from now looking back, knowing that there never was a smallpox outbreak, knowing that they could still be alive? Or not vaccinating, and having the outbreak, and knowing that maybe if you’d vaccinated, they might still be alive? It’s a tough choice, and one that I hope I won’t have to make. But if it comes down to it, I’ll probably choose NOT to vaccinate unless an outbreak has been detected somewhere. — Jason Baugher 355/310/215 LC since 10/1/02 mini-goal: under 300 by Xmas
Response:
Not far-fetched at all! I have this scenario playing on loop in my head, Carmen. I can see lines backed up for people to get the shots!! I’m seriously considering volunteering to help give the inoculations when/if the crisis arrives. Perhaps, you can get the shots now, if you want to volunteer. . This is the loop: Talk shows, news magazines, and all other yellow journalists will foretell the perils of the vaccination. Soon, there will be public outrage. "You can’t make me take that shot!" (which they can’t—yet) There will be talk of governmental conspiracies involving secret medical studies…Until the first case hits, then the chaos will truly begin! People fighting in long lines, thinking there is an elitist plot to vaccinate the wealthy/powerful first, general panic, and much death. If no one waits, people will die. If everyone waits, more people will die. It’s a dice roll either way, as far as I can tell. But, as I’ve had many vaccinations, I’m already a high-roller. I have much more research to study, but I think I might avoid the panic and get vaccinated early. — Mdmquincy (Jennifer)
snipped… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Just to play devil’s advocate think about this scenario: Terrorists release an aerosol can of the virus at a concert. After the concert all those people go back where they came from. A relative few contract the disease and it incubates. They become contagious as it replicates inside them and it begins to be spread. Some of them spread it at their college, some of them spread it to their children, some spread it to the customers at their restaurant job, some spread it to loved ones they visit at the hospital, some spread it across the country as they travel. By the time the first cases are diagnosed the disease has been spread beyond the point of feasible containment. The decision is made to mass inoculate the populus, but there’s a problem. Many of those who would ordinarily be involved in the distribution of the vaccine are too ill to do so. The vaccination program is extremely slow and inefficient. Widespread panic might well ensue as people watch as many as 30% of their loved ones die. The scarey thing is it isn’t even far-fetched. If I have the opportunity to get vaccinated I’m taking it. Take care, Carmen Geocachers get right to the point. http://members14.clubphoto.com/carmen634742/guest-1.phtml
Response:
Thanks for the link, Lee!!! Not pretty, but it may be worthwhile. I wonder if having had the flu shot will ward off any of the flu symptoms? hmmm… doubtful. — Mdmquincy (Jennifer) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – BTW, as I was writing this, I got a "news alert" regarding the smallpox vaccine. http://www.msnbc.com/news/./843411.asp?0na=x2224230- Scary stuff. Lee -Who had the original immunization & would prefer a titer 1st
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ya’d think they could do titers to see if someone still has immunity. When I started my new job, they ran titers to check my immunity for several diseases (and if they’d been low, would have reimmunized me). Even with my dog(!) I’ve started to do titers on him, since the research is showing that immunity lasts way longer than the manufacturers claim. See http://www.888webtoday.com/joyce4.html "a study by the Israeli Defense Force found that even 30 years after booster shots of such vaccinations, many patients still show a titer of antibodies against smallpox in their blood streams sufficient to resist the disease" BTW, as I was writing this, I got a "news alert" regarding the smallpox vaccine. http://www.msnbc.com/news/./843411.asp?0na=x2224230- Scary stuff. Lee -Who had the original immunization & would prefer a titer 1st I’m with you, Lee. I was vacinated in 1950 before I entered school and again in 1963 prior to entering college. Until I see conclusive evidence otherwise I’ll take my chances that I’m still protected. BillJ
I heard an infectious disease expert on the radio a couple days ago explaining that IF they vaccinated everyone in the USA right now, somewhere around 30 would die. They all seemed to think that was acceptable – which I suppose it is, if you don’t know any of the 30 who die. As far as I am concerned, let’s build up our stockpile of doses so we CAN vaccinate if we need to. But only do so IF smallpox gets dumped on us. The way I see it, today I have 0% risk of dying from smallpox. If they vaccinate me today, I have a very small risk, but still a risk of dying. So today I choose to pass on the vaccine. If terrorists dump smallpox on us tomorrow, I’ll have a 1 in 3 chance of dying, I think – in which case I’ll take the vaccination to reduce my risk back to just a small amount. — Jason Baugher 355/310/215 LC since 10/1/02 mini-goal: under 300 by Xmas
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Jason, As far as I am concerned, let’s build up our stockpile of doses so we CAN vaccinate if we need to. But only do so IF smallpox gets dumped on us. It’s not as effective after infection. The immune system needs time to confer immunity to a disease. The vaccination (in this case) is a extremely weakened strain of the virus. Your immune system freaks out when it sees it, and then begins to make a bunch of antibodies to the pathogen. The one that’s most effective at neutralizing the pathogen in some fashion (that can be due to preventing it from attaching to cells, or by interfering with its ability to replicate, or by preventing a toxin it produces from working) gets preferentially produced to deal with the infection. When the infection is over the cells that produce the antibodies gear down and disappear, leaving what are called "memory cells" that are specific for that one pathogen to stay on vigil for any subsequent appearance of it. If it *does* show up again the second response is stronger and faster than the first one, because the refinement and selection process for the most effective immune system response has already been done. Without the prior vaccination you face higher risks from an infection. Additionally, since someone can be contagious for days before they show any signs of the disease they can spread the virus all over the place. Just to play devil’s advocate think about this scenario: Terrorists release an aerosol can of the virus at a concert. After the concert all those people go back where they came from. A relative few contract the disease and it incubates. They become contagious as it replicates inside them and it begins to be spread. Some of them spread it at their college, some of them spread it to their children, some spread it to the customers at their restaurant job, some spread it to loved ones they visit at the hospital, some spread it across the country as they travel. By the time the first cases are diagnosed the disease has been spread beyond the point of feasible containment. The decision is made to mass inoculate the populus, but there’s a problem. Many of those who would ordinarily be involved in the distribution of the vaccine are too ill to do so. The vaccination program is extremely slow and inefficient. Widespread panic might well ensue as people watch as many as 30% of their loved ones die. The scarey thing is it isn’t even far-fetched. If I have the opportunity to get vaccinated I’m taking it. Take care, Carmen Geocachers get right to the point. http://members14.clubphoto.com/carmen634742/guest-1.phtml
I agree that it isn’t that farfetched that it could happen, but it’s still an IF. Maybe I’d get vaccinated if I had the opportunity, but how can I in good conscience take my 1 1/2 year old boy to get vaccinated when I know there is a very small, but still possible, risk of it killing him? On the one hand, the vaccination MIGHT kill him. On the other hand, someone MIGHT release smallpox on us, and we MIGHT not have time to get him vaccinated in time before it gets here, and he MIGHT die from it. I KNOW that USA-wide vaccination might kill him – I DON’T KNOW if anyone will ever release smallpox. Which would be worse, having your kid die from the vaccination, and years from now looking back, knowing that there never was a smallpox outbreak, knowing that they could still be alive? Or not vaccinating, and having the outbreak, and knowing that maybe if you’d vaccinated, they might still be alive? It’s a tough choice, and one that I hope I won’t have to make. But if it comes down to it, I’ll probably choose NOT to vaccinate unless an outbreak has been detected somewhere. — Jason Baugher 355/310/215 LC since 10/1/02 mini-goal: under 300 by Xmas
Response:
Hi Jason, As far as I am concerned, let’s build up our stockpile of doses so we CAN vaccinate if we need to. But only do so IF smallpox gets dumped on us.
It’s not as effective after infection. The immune system needs time to confer immunity to a disease. The vaccination (in this case) is a extremely weakened strain of the virus. Your immune system freaks out when it sees it, and then begins to make a bunch of antibodies to the pathogen. The one that’s most effective at neutralizing the pathogen in some fashion (that can be due to preventing it from attaching to cells, or by interfering with its ability to replicate, or by preventing a toxin it produces from working) gets preferentially produced to deal with the infection. When the infection is over the cells that produce the antibodies gear down and disappear, leaving what are called "memory cells" that are specific for that one pathogen to stay on vigil for any subsequent appearance of it. If it *does* show up again the second response is stronger and faster than the first one, because the refinement and selection process for the most effective immune system response has already been done. Without the prior vaccination you face higher risks from an infection. Additionally, since someone can be contagious for days before they show any signs of the disease they can spread the virus all over the place. Just to play devil’s advocate think about this scenario: Terrorists release an aerosol can of the virus at a concert. After the concert all those people go back where they came from. A relative few contract the disease and it incubates. They become contagious as it replicates inside them and it begins to be spread. Some of them spread it at their college, some of them spread it to their children, some spread it to the customers at their restaurant job, some spread it to loved ones they visit at the hospital, some spread it across the country as they travel. By the time the first cases are diagnosed the disease has been spread beyond the point of feasible containment. The decision is made to mass inoculate the populus, but there’s a problem. Many of those who would ordinarily be involved in the distribution of the vaccine are too ill to do so. The vaccination program is extremely slow and inefficient. Widespread panic might well ensue as people watch as many as 30% of their loved ones die. The scarey thing is it isn’t even far-fetched. If I have the opportunity to get vaccinated I’m taking it. Take care, Carmen Geocachers get right to the point. http://members14.clubphoto.com/carmen634742/guest-1.phtml
Response:
In the very near future (buzz is early Jan.), they are going to start inoculating health care providers with the small pox vaccination. I believe the actual vaccination is made from the cow pox virus. To the workers of health depts., though maybe to all health workers, they are extending this vaccination to immediate families. My mom is single-so my family is her immediate family- so I have the opportunity to get this shot for my family. Does anyone have any information or links about the vaccine? I have found this link http://www.fpnotebook.com/ID184.htm, which looks to be promising. Anyone else making this decision? I was born in 71 and was never vaccinated, so this is really a new concept to me. My mother said the fatality rate for the vaccine is app. 1:1,000,000. Sounds reasonable enough, but if I’m not mistaken the vaccines are 30 yrs. old. Also, I know they recently did a study at Vanderbilt. Any of you JAMA subscribers or med research hounds know how I can access this study? Any information you have would be helpful. Other than the pharmacology, I’m unsure what key words to use to narrow my search. TIA, — Mdmquincy (Jennifer)
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Had I not been vaccinated previously, however, I would probably take the chance rather than be unprotected.
Don’t worry, the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq are helping to make sure that terrorists won’t release smallpox in the US. <rolls eyes -Scott Johnson "The United States of America will not live at the mercy of any group or regime that has the motive and seeks the power to murder Americans on a massive scale." -President GWB 11/8/2002
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I was vaccinated in the late 60s before I went to college and got the reaction they are talking about in the news alert, fever, aches all over and blisters on my legs and abdomen. I was pretty sick for a week. My current physician says that kind of a reaction means I should still be safe. One of my children got the mumps from his MMR vaccine at 18 months.
I can’t remember what, if any, reaction I got to the shot. I can’t even remember how many I got. I know I got one as a kid, but can’t remember if I ever got a booster, like when I started nursing school. I just hope the next time "they" declare a disease eradicated, they remember this quandary <sigh. Lee – sitting home, watching the snow
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writes: BTW, as I was writing this, I got a "news alert" regarding the smallpox vaccine. http://www.msnbc.com/news/./843411.asp?0na=x2224230- Scary stuff. Lee -Who had the original immunization & would prefer a titer 1st I’m with you, Lee. I was vacinated in 1950 before I entered school and again in 1963 prior to entering college. Until I see conclusive evidence otherwise I’ll take my chances that I’m still protected.
I was vaccinated in the late 60s before I went to college and got the reaction they are talking about in the news alert, fever, aches all over and blisters on my legs and abdomen. I was pretty sick for a week. My current physician says that kind of a reaction means I should still be safe. One of my children got the mumps from his MMR vaccine at 18 months. Kitty.
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Ya’d think they could do titers to see if someone still has immunity. When I started my new job, they ran titers to check my immunity for several diseases (and if they’d been low, would have reimmunized me). Even with my dog(!) I’ve started to do titers on him, since the research is showing that immunity lasts way longer than the manufacturers claim. See http://www.888webtoday.com/joyce4.html "a study by the Israeli Defense Force found that even 30 years after booster shots of such vaccinations, many patients still show a titer of antibodies against smallpox in their blood streams sufficient to resist the disease" BTW, as I was writing this, I got a "news alert" regarding the smallpox vaccine. http://www.msnbc.com/news/./843411.asp?0na=x2224230- Scary stuff. Lee -Who had the original immunization & would prefer a titer 1st
I’m with you, Lee. I was vacinated in 1950 before I entered school and again in 1963 prior to entering college. Until I see conclusive evidence otherwise I’ll take my chances that I’m still protected. BillJ
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I was vaccinated twice for smallpox .. once in grade school with innoculation, and again in high school with the then new-fangled oral vaccine … I’m still here
Might you be thinking of the polio vaccine? — AF
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In the meanwhile, the talk about those of us who were immunized prior to 1971 no longer being immune is pure speculative, unsubstantiated *bullshit.* Everywhere you check on this fact it will say that the immunization is "only good for 10 years," but that a "nationwide study is currently underway to verify this.!" LOL! Someone would like to scare us into getting expensive new shots with absolutely no basis in fact – my guess is the AMA or the drug manufacturers are behind it. Why would mumps, measles, chicken pox, etc, vaccines be lifelong and smallpox only10 years? How do they know? Have they tried to kill someone by exposing them to smallpox after 11 years? I know when the time comes, I’ll rely on my old smallpox vaccine scars rather than take chances with the man made germ.
Ya’d think they could do titers to see if someone still has immunity. When I started my new job, they ran titers to check my immunity for several diseases (and if they’d been low, would have reimmunized me). Even with my dog(!) I’ve started to do titers on him, since the research is showing that immunity lasts way longer than the manufacturers claim. See http://www.888webtoday.com/joyce4.html "a study by the Israeli Defense Force found that even 30 years after booster shots of such vaccinations, many patients still show a titer of antibodies against smallpox in their blood streams sufficient to resist the disease" BTW, as I was writing this, I got a "news alert" regarding the smallpox vaccine. http://www.msnbc.com/news/./843411.asp?0na=x2224230- Scary stuff. Lee -Who had the original immunization & would prefer a titer 1st
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Oops — I engaged mouth before putting brain into gear. I just researched several articles. The contemporary vaccine is a *live* man-made germ that does not exist in nature. They really don’t know what the effect would be on the general population, acording to the literature anyone with a compromised immune system (HIV, lupus, certain allergies,etc.) would be especially susceptible to illness or death. Also those with a form of skin exzema (believe it or not) that 15% of the population has would be susceptible also! In the meanwhile, the talk about those of us who were immunized prior to 1971 no longer being immune is pure speculative, unsubstantiated *bullshit.* Everywhere you check on this fact it will say that the immunization is "only good for 10 years," but that a "nationwide study is currently underway to verify this.!" LOL! Someone would like to scare us into getting expensive new shots with absolutely no basis in fact – my guess is the AMA or the drug manufacturers are behind it. Why would mumps, measles, chicken pox, etc, vaccines be lifelong and smallpox only10 years? How do they know? Have they tried to kill someone by exposing them to smallpox after 11 years? I know when the time comes, I’ll rely on my old smallpox vaccine scars rather than take chances with the man made germ. Had I not been vaccinated previously, however, I would probably take the chance rather than be unprotected. — Peter Website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! —–= Over 100,000 Newsgroups – Unlimited Fast Downloads – 19 Servers =—–
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – In the very near future (buzz is early Jan.), they are going to start inoculating health care providers with the small pox vaccination. I believe the actual vaccination is made from the cow pox virus. To the workers of health depts., though maybe to all health workers, they are extending this vaccination to immediate families. My mom is single-so my family is her immediate family- so I have the opportunity to get this shot for my family. Does anyone have any information or links about the vaccine? I have found this link http://www.fpnotebook.com/ID184.htm, which looks to be promising. Anyone else making this decision? I was born in 71 and was never vaccinated, so this is really a new concept to me. My mother said the fatality rate for the vaccine is app. 1:1,000,000. Sounds reasonable enough, but if I’m not mistaken the vaccines are 30 yrs. old. Also, I know they recently did a study at Vanderbilt. Any of you JAMA subscribers or med research hounds know how I can access this study? Any information you have would be helpful. Other than the pharmacology, I’m unsure what key words to use to narrow my search. TIA, — Mdmquincy (Jennifer)
I was vaccinated twice for smallpox .. once in grade school with innoculation, and again in high school with the then new-fangled oral vaccine … I’m still here You cannot contract smallpox from the vaccine; the virii are dead. The extremely small percentage of people who die from the vaccine are from rare allergic reactions. … Then again, I don’t fly despite the statistics in favor of surviving an airplane trip ;) I’d be happy to donate my already-immune blood :) — Peter Website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! —–= Over 100,000 Newsgroups – Unlimited Fast Downloads – 19 Servers =—–
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