1/21/2003: Normal smallpox vaccination

[CharlieG]

Originally posted by Slithy_Tove
...snip....It may seem antiquated, but I don't see any other way it could be. The smallpox vaccine is a 'live virus' vaccine, that contains a weakened form of the disease....snip....

I'm 40, and I have the scar too - BTW your CLOSE in your description, but in the case of Smallpox it's NOT a weakened form of the virus - it's a different virus - cowpox - that happens to give immunity to smallpox - I believe all current smallpox vaccines come from the 1953 strain of cowpox

BTW Cowpox is where the term vaccination comes from - and technically, the ONLY vaccination is for smallpox - the rest are immunizations - Look up the latin root for cow

Main Entry: vac·cine
Pronunciation: vak-'sEn, 'vak-"
Function: noun
Etymology: French vaccin, from vaccine cowpox, from New Latin vaccina (in variolae vaccinae cowpox), from Latin, feminine of vaccinus, adjective, of or from cows, from vacca cow; akin to Sanskrit vasa cow