When I was a child, I distinctly noticed a scar on my mother’s arm. It was positioned high up, near her shoulder, shaped like a ring of small indents surrounding a larger one. For reasons I couldn’t quite place, it caught my attention, but over time, I forgot about it—at least, I forgot why I had noticed it in the first place.
Years later, while helping an elderly woman off a train, I saw the same type of scar in the same spot. This reignited my curiosity, but with the train quickly departing, I couldn’t ask her about it. I called my mother, who reminded me that she had explained the scar’s origin before: it was from the smallpox vaccine.
Smallpox, a dangerous viral disease that once caused widespread devastation, was responsible for many deaths and disfigurements. However, through mass vaccination campaigns, smallpox was declared eradicated in the U.S. by 1952, and the routine vaccine was phased out in 1972. Prior to that, children were vaccinated against smallpox, leaving behind a very noticeable scar as a mark of immunity.
This vaccine was different from others given today. A special two-pronged needle was used to puncture the skin multiple times, delivering the vaccine into the dermis. The body’s immune response led to bumps, which developed into fluid-filled blisters, eventually bursting and scabbing over, leaving the signature scar.
As I learned from my mother, this scar is a reminder of a public health victory. It’s the legacy of a time when a simple mark on the skin indicated survival against one of humanity’s most feared diseases.
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