I clearly remember seeing a unique scar on my mom’s arm when I was younger. It’s located high up, near her shoulder, looking like a circle of tiny indentations around a bigger one.
I can’t say why that caught my eye back then; I just know it did. Over the years, though, I kind of forgot about it.
Of course, I didn’t completely forget (it’s still there), but I did lose track of why it fascinated me. Maybe I asked my mom once and she told me. If she did, though, that slipped my mind too.
That changed when I helped an older lady off a train one summer not long ago and noticed the same scar in the same spot as my mom’s. My curiosity was sparked but with the train moving on to where I needed to go, asking her about her scar wasn’t possible.
So instead, I called my mother who told me she had explained more than once – obviously not important enough for me to remember – that her scar came from the well-known smallpox vaccine.
Smallpox is an infectious virus that used to frighten people everywhere. It caused serious skin rashes and fevers; during major outbreaks in the 20th century, it killed about 3 out of every 10 people infected according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many others were left with permanent scars.
Thanks to effective use of the smallpox vaccine across many communities, this virus was declared “extinct” in America by 1952! In fact by 1972 smallpox vaccines stopped being part of regular shots given to kids.
However until the early ’70s all children received this vaccination which left behind noticeable marks. Think of it as an early version of a vaccine passport: a scar showing you had been vaccinated against smallpox!
And yes you guessed right; it’s that very mark on my mother (just like almost everyone else from her generation).
Why does the smallpox vaccine leave scars?
The scarring from this vaccine happened because of how our bodies heal themselves. The way this vaccine was given is quite different compared to most vaccines today—it used a special two-pronged needle.
The person giving out this shot made several punctures into your skin (instead of just one like today) so they could deliver it into your dermis (the layer under your outer skin).
Then inside your body ,the virus would start multiplying causing round bumps to form which later turned into vesicles (small blisters filled with fluid) before bursting and scabbing over eventually.
This process leads us back to that famous scar we’ve discussed here!
Are you old enough to have gotten a mark from getting vaccinated against smallpox? Share with us in comments!
