I think I was in the second grade. That would have been 1967/68. A nurse came to school and announced that we were getting smallpox vaccinations. "Now don't worry!" she exhorted us. "I'm just going to prick your skin. It won't hurt at all!"
Turns out she spoke the truth. The little pinpricks she gave us were barely noticed.
Then, AFTER we all were vaccinated, she gave us the rest of the story. The pinpricks would turn into huge, ugly, itchy lesions that would leave a permanent scar. BUT, we were safe from smallpox. And she would show up pictures of unfortunate children who DIDN'T get their vaccinations, covered with horrible scars.
At that point, we accepted the fact that we had made a good decision in accepting the procedure.
In possibly the single most effective vaccination campaign ever, smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980. The routine school vaccinations were discontinued in 1972.
And they left that ubiquitous scar. In fact, just glancing at a person's upper right arm, just below the shoulder, will tell you if he or she is a Baby Boomer. The last recipients of the vaccinations would have been born in 1964/65, making them the last of the breed.
The lesion that developed on my own arm wasn't too bad. But I remember other kids in my class who had really bad ones. Yet it was a rite of passage that we knew was coming, because our older brothers and sisters had to go through the same thing.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, there was talk of some of the last surviving virus cultures falling into their hands, and a need of re-establishing the vaccination program. Many folks volunteered to get them just to be safe. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that the virus has gotten out of its laboratory confines.
If some sicko did release the virus, we wouldn't be off the hook, you know. Our vaccinations weren't good for life. We would have to relive the pinprick, the swelling, and the itching. But we'd be prepared. After all, we've done this before.
Comments (14)
I don't remember what year I got my shots, but I do remember they were given when I was in school, and we were some of the first to get them from an air gun instead of a needle... That left a unique scar as well.
Posted by Greg Spiers | February 27, 2007 11:28 AM
Posted on February 27, 2007 11:28
I don't remember the smallpox shots either.. but I do remember the TB test we had every 2 years, I think? Boy that needle was big. It had 4 or 5 needles in it and it hurt. That last one I recieve was in 6th grade.
Posted by Cari | February 27, 2007 11:50 AM
Posted on February 27, 2007 11:50
I got mine as I began 1st grade, which would have been about 1962 or 63. The first one didn't take and some time later I had to get it again and I got very sick. I missed about a week of school.
Posted by Jo | February 28, 2007 3:02 PM
Posted on February 28, 2007 15:02
Oh yes, I remember! I don't know how long it took, but until that scab fell off, it looked terrible! I still have my battle scar to remind me.
Posted by Rhonda | April 12, 2007 7:47 PM
Posted on April 12, 2007 19:47
Had to get vacinnated in school[i was 6-7] and yes it itched like the devil;but you were warned NOT to scratch or touch it.You would have some kind of bandage on it for 6-10 days then [my aunt was a MD]bandage was removed and within a day or so the scab would fall off.I know i sound weird but to me i thought the scar was awesome!
Posted by John | October 16, 2007 9:57 AM
Posted on October 16, 2007 09:57
I was in first grade (1953)when we all got the vaccination for smallpox. They pricked our arm which was no big deal compared to getting a shot but for three weeks, you had a ugly blister and your arm swelled. Finally the scab fell off and you had that unique scar on your arm. Some scars were different than others. Dont know what made the difference though. We also got the 'new' polio shot, given with the air gun sometime around the seventh grade (1959). By the end of high school, they were giving polio vaccinations with the new vaccine...a drop of vaccine on a sugar cube. BTW they give BCG vaccinations in other countries (UK,Russia,etc) to babies or school kids (teens) and the vaccination scar is often simular to the smallpox vaccination scar. They first test them for TB with the multipronged needle we used to get. We just didnt get the BCG vaccination afterwards.
Posted by Mack | December 7, 2008 10:55 AM
Posted on December 7, 2008 10:55
"The last recipients of the vaccinations would have been born in 1964/65"
Wait a sec...I was born in 1969 but I have that scar too. On my left arm tho...don't remember getting it; maybe it was for something else??
Posted by Cynthia | December 22, 2008 10:16 AM
Posted on December 22, 2008 10:16
I have my battle scar on my arm! But I didn't get mine in school! Got mine at the doctor and remember being afraid of shots all my life! I did get the polio sugar cube at a highschool and also getting a rebula shot at school with those awful looking air guns! No wonder I was warped about getting shots! To young to remember the early childhood booster shots, but my mom said they left bruises on my back end! Horrors Horrors Batman!
Posted by Rivers End | January 1, 2009 11:24 PM
Posted on January 1, 2009 23:24
I got my shot at a doctors office. Can't remember what year...Seems like it took me a couple of tries for it to take. Dr taped a plastic bubble on me so I could see but not scratch...
Posted by Scott | March 9, 2009 11:19 AM
Posted on March 9, 2009 11:19
Does anyone recall the vaccination propaganda film? I remember one in which the germs were black spiders and the white blood cells were white with World War I-type helmets and they ate the spiders. Seems it was set to the classical music, "Hall of the Mountain King."
Posted by Jean | April 6, 2009 4:29 PM
Posted on April 6, 2009 16:29
I was born in 1968 and did indeed have the small pox vaccination in my left arm but it was administered at a public health clinic. It is my understanding that they would begin the vaccination at age 2. This would indicate that the last year of someone being born who still could possibly have the small pox vaccination would be 1970 since they stopped doing them in 1972.
Posted by Michael | April 27, 2009 5:32 PM
Posted on April 27, 2009 17:32
No school I ever went to administered vaccinations. Our parents took us to the doctor's office for our shots, sugar cubes, etc.
The doctor I went to gave girls the smallpox vaccination on their leg rather than their upper arm, so that we could later wear sleeveless tops without the scar showing.
Most of the scars you saw were circular depressions with a circumference about the size of a dime; a really bad one could be about the size of a quarter. I don't know when my grandmother received her smallpox vaccination or what went wrong, but it left her with an enormous scar. The circular depression on her upper arm was approximately the size of the bottom of a soup can!
Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2009 12:35 AM
Posted on September 7, 2009 00:35
They tried to give me the shot 3 times, none would 'take' so they declared me naturally immune. As a result, I don't have, and never had, the scar on the arm. I'm curious to find out if this had happened to others?
Posted by York | February 2, 2010 12:10 PM
Posted on February 2, 2010 12:10
I am sure I received the shots at least two times; in grade school and the Navy. I don't have a scar so I must be immune to it.
I remember a lady in college days somewhat older than most of us other students who had two scars on her arm.
Wife has a cousin who had the shot in the back so it would not show on the arm.
Posted by Dennis | March 11, 2010 9:59 PM
Posted on March 11, 2010 21:59