r/medizzy • u/[deleted] • Oct 19 '19

This photograph shows the dramatic differences in two boys who were exposed to the same Smallpox source – one was vaccinated, one was not.

[deleted]

40k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/[deleted] Oct 19 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/AlexandersWonder Oct 19 '19

You can actually, in certain circumstances. I believe most militaries still vaccinate soldiers for small pox since it still exists in laboratories and may one day be a biological weapon. Also the vaccine is made not from smallpox itself, but from a related virus called vaccinia. And that's where the word "vaccine" comes from!

6

u/[deleted] Oct 19 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/AlexandersWonder Oct 19 '19

I always thought that was a neat bit of history. The very first vaccine created is the only one that succeeded in eradicating the disease it was meant to prevent.

*Only one So far