I remember noticing a distinct scar on my mother\u2019s shoulder as a child\u2014a ring of small indents around a larger one. I don\u2019t know why it caught my attention, and over the years, I forgot about my curiosity.<\/p>\n
Years later, while helping an elderly woman off a train, I spotted the same scar on her arm. Curious, I called my mother, who reminded me she had explained it before: it came from the smallpox vaccine.<\/p>\n
Smallpox was a deadly viral disease, killing about 30% of those infected and leaving many disfigured. Thanks to widespread vaccination, it was declared extinct in the U.S. in 1952, and routine vaccinations stopped in 1972.<\/p>\n
Before then, every child was vaccinated, leaving a clear scar\u2014a sort of \u201cfirst vaccine passport.\u201d The scar appeared because the vaccine was delivered with a two-pronged needle, creating multiple punctures. The virus caused bumps, then blisters, which scabbed over, leaving the familiar mark that my mother\u2014and most people her age\u2014still bear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"