How SMALLPOX was eradicated | history of smallpox | history of vaccines | the symptoms of smallpox
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- The story of HOW WE BEAT SMALLPOX, which was one of the deadliest diseases in history, spans several centuries and nearly the entire globe. In this video from History Calling we’ll look at the history of smallpox, some famous people who had smallpox, the mortality rate of this horrendous disease, how it was spread, the symptoms of smallpox (which I’ll show you using historic photographs of those who suffered from it), the long-term effects for those who survived and the invention of a smallpox vaccine. We’ll then see how smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980 using that vaccine and why inoculation could destroy this disease, but doesn’t eliminate others. I’ll also reveal how the history of vaccines was shaped by pioneers including Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (wife of George II), Dr Edward Jenner and the impact the policies of the World Health Organisation (the WHO) had on destroying smallpox. This will include a discussion of early vaccine methods known as variolation, plus a comparison of cowpox and smallpox and how one helped to defeat the other. I’ll also look at the smallpox inoculation programmes around the world, at when and why they were rolled out, then eventually suspended at who had the last case of smallpox in the world and at why there are only two known locations where live smallpox virus is kept today. This is the story of the only disease we’ve ever eliminated and how we did it.
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Do you think the remaining samples of smallpox in storage should be destroyed and why? Let me know in the comments below and remember you can also find me on Patreon at www.patreon.com/historycalling and on my Amazon storefront at www.amazon.com/shop/historycalling
I'm sure Putin would love to release it
@littlemiss_76 You are absolutely right!!
More likely to be the States. And I live in the States. You really should learn something about Putin. He's not some monster. @@littlemiss_76
@@hollyw9566Why aren't you back home fighting for Putin?
@@littlemiss_76The American Empire would release it just like convid, why would Putin do that?
I am in my 70's, and have always lived in the USA. I was vaccinated against smallpox as a young child. The polio vaccines were more memorable for me because they were administered on a sugar cube, and it was a rare treat!
I remember my polio vaccines too, but we didn't get a sugar cube. They just had us crank our heads back and then used a dropper to deposit the most disgusting tasting liquid ever down our throats. I've always been jealous of the sugar-cube kids :-)
I also got the sugar cube! I lived in hope the rest of my childhood that the next “shot” would come via sugar cube, but it never happened again.
I got the sugar cube too, I am little younger than you. As I understand it the sugar cube was the live vaccine that has since been superseded by dead one.
I, too, remember the sugar cubes. They were later replaced by tiny plastic cups with a bit of water and the diluted vaccine. This may have been beneficial for our teeth but certainly much less environmentally friendly, with all that plastic waste.
I even remember a TV ad campaign which alluded to the sugar cubes. Its slogan was "Schluckimpfung ist süß - Kinderlähmung ist grausam". Schluckimpfung (swallowed vaccine) is what we called the oral polio vaccine, and Kinderlähmung (child palsy) is the German word for polio. So: "Swallowed vaccines are sweet - polio is cruel". This was at a time when they did no longer use the sugar cubes ;-)
Yes, I loved the polio vaccine in sugar cubes! 😋
There was an outbreak of this at Birmingham University in 1978. My partner was working on the floor below and had to be inoculated. The woman who got the disease eventually died. I think this was the reason why only two places in the world now have a live virus in isolation.
Someone else mentioned that too. I'd never heard that story before, but it's awful.
I've never heard of an outbreak . I was vaccinated for it in the 60s as it was a required Vax even for school
İt was a nurse who worked in Afrika ı think @@HistoryCalling
Didn’t it escape through an air vent? The scientists working on it had been vaccinated but the poor woman in the room with the air vent had not…
I love how you are expanding into a wider variety of topics! This is such an underrated topic - probably at least as important as the world wars. We dont give this the attention it deserves because we take living in a world without this disease for granted.
Thank you. Yes, I need a little break from the Tudors every once in a while :-)
@@HistoryCallingeveryone does😭
Yes, the Tudors even needed a break from each other sometimes!
John Adams wife wrote to him that she had their children inoculated and I've heard that George Washington had all his soldiers inoculated at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778.
@@SMElder-iy6flBenjamin Franklin gave into his wife's fears and against his judgement, didn't get their five-year old son inoculated. The boy later died of small pox. Franklin always regretted not overriding his wife and inoculating the boy without her consent. He was their only son, though they also had a daughter and Franklin had an older son from a prior relationship. The death of their son essentially destroyed their marriage. Though he supported his wife and daughter, he took jobs in England lived apart from them for years at a time.
I love history but your voice is so soothing. Makes it ten times better
Aww, thank you very much :-)
I agree! Love her voice!
@@lisasharf1442 So do I!
Important for us not to forget just how awful this was, and how important are the advancements that have been made...Thank you!
Thank you. Yes, I agree. A lot of people today really don't appreciate what mass outbreaks of super-deadly diseases are really like. Something like SP makes the world's recent experience look like a picnic by comparison.
I have the circular Smallpox vaccination scar from childhood. Interestingly enough, the experience was having a nurse push a small, circular device with tiny needles in it to cause punctures - in my upper, outer arm. It must've also released the serum or goop into the wound. It was really sore and red for awhile, scabbed over and a lot of, 'Don't touch it!' from my Mom.
As an aside, as a 5 year old in 1956, I was the first to receive the Polio vaccine in my city - made the newspaper. A couple of drops of colorful liquid on a sugar cube, down the hatch and that was it. Both diseases were terrifying for everyone.
Why is it everyone else got their polio vaccine on a sugar cube? I got no such thing. Just a pipette of the most disgusting tasting liquid ever poured down my throat. It was true suffering 😁
@@HistoryCalling 😉
I found out at my first pregnancy that i hadn't been immunized for Rubella. I spent a few months keeping away from others as best as i could and was worried. In school, they lined us up and dosed everyone for polio, i think it was. Great video.
Oh bummer. I'm sure that was very stressful for you. I bet you've been good though and had your kids vaccinated so that they never have the same problem, so at least something good came from it.
@@HistoryCalling I did indeed
Smallpox is a topic that utterly fascinates me from a historical perspective. I'm 40 and it feels as ancient and removed from me as the plague, yet my own dad was vaccinated against it in the army in the 60s. People who survived it are still alive now. The fact my 9 year old daughter can take her grandparents ration books to school and talk about her granddad's smallpox connection (we're a family of old parents)- history is so far away but not as far as we think!
We all had to be vaccinated before we could attend school back in the 50s.
I was vaccinated for it in 2003 before I went to Iraq. So I'm not so sure it's that removed from anyone.
If you like history, read "Dissolving Illusions" by Roman Bystrianyk and Suzanne Humphries. Lots of first-hand information about smallpox and other diseases.
Yes, I read about the vaccine rollout carried out in the early 2000s. I considered including it in the video actually, but it only applied to such a small number of people. Sadly even your immunity has probably worn off by now though :-(
Yes, it's interesting to see how quickly the world has forgotten about the horrors of this. I feel like it should be talked about more to help to stamp out the anti-vax craziness. If more people understood what a breakout of a super-deadly disease like SP was like, I think fewer people would be suckered by the dangerous anti-vax lies.
My dad and his siblings all have scars from their vaccines. Before my dad died he said that a vaccine clinic was run by his church and every child that got vaccinated was give ice cream afterwards and local stores gave every child a certificate to get a bottle of soda later.
Yes, I've seen older family members' vaccine scars too. It's a shame it's not a vaccine for life though.
I remember my parents and aunts/uncles with that scar, too.
I have the scar too from the smallpox vaccine, I was vaccinated back in 1968.
Another great video. Thank you. I was born in the US in 1972 and was probably one of the last to be vaccinated for smallpox. I don't remember it, but my mom said I cried and that the doctor was concerned because I developed a large blister at the injection site. Now, I have the 'crater' scar on the back of my upper arm. My kids, who are also history lovers, think it's cool.
Aww, poor (baby) you. At least you don't remember it though. I think it's better that way.
You are lucky not to remember it, I had nightmares about how big the needle looked to me. I don't remember if it was for the smallpox, tuberculosis,or the polio vaccines,but I received all three. I still have my vaccination card. I think I was also vaccinated against the German measles too.
I received the smallpox vaccine in 1962 so I could start school. My dad took me to the doctor’s office and I cried from the multiple needle arm jab. I didn’t realize the inoculation wears off. 😢 We lined up at school for the polio sugar cube. I had to get immunity for measles, mumps and chicken pox the hard way. My poor mom had a rough time as my sister and I always shared the latest disease! Don’t forget to get the shingles inoculation if you are older. It might not kill you but it’s not something you want to catch! Despite cringing at some scenes, I enjoyed this. Thank you!
I keep reading about people getting the polio vaccine on a sugar cube and I feel so persecuted, as I just got it straight down the throat from a pipette and it tasted awful. Where the heck was my sugar cube?! I've had measles and chicken pox too. Don't remember measles as I was only a baby, but chickenpox was sooo itchy!
I was taught the cow pox story in school back in the day.
Sort of funny to think humanity was partially saved by the humble cow :-)
@@HistoryCalling they are good for so much, including saving lives
Happy Monday. Vaccines do work and here in the US, some states are having out breaks of measles because either the parents don’t believe in them or the governor of the state doesn’t mandate vaccination in schools. Great video
Thanks Delia. Yes, I'm a big proponent of them too. You hear of measles and mumps outbreaks in universities here in the UK because the students weren't vaccinated as kids and now they're having to get their immunity the hard (and sometimes very dangerous) way.
I was born in ‘63, my mom caught Rubella which rendered me half deaf. Although the results could’ve been far worse. When I had my first child the Rubella vaccine was then available and I was relieved to be able to receive it.
Me thinking of an adorable cow portrait next to portraits of stodgy old doctors
:-)
I was vaccinated against Smallpox at age 6 as part of a series of vaccines for travel with my parents to multiple South Pacific counties. I still have the circular dimple in my upper arm from the multi-needle vaccine gun. I also remember getting very sick within a day of receiving it which continued for a few days with fever, chills, body aches, and nausea.
Aww, that sounds unpleasant, but of course I'm still glad your parents were smart enough to get you protected.
Thanks for another interesting and informative story. I hadn't known it was called Variola, and immediately I understood the origin of variolation.
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it :-)
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it :-)
a new history calling video to watch on repeat until i fall asleep hellyeaaaaa
Sweet dreams :-)
@@HistoryCalling sweet dreams to you too when youre done with your comment scrolling
Thank you! :-)
Gee, I thought I was the only one who did that😊
I like the way you expand your interests. Medical history is one of my great favourites. Smallpox was indeed very much feared, up to the late 1940s. My mother caught it as a baby in 1947 and the repetitive tales about it in the family as I was growing up are testament to the fear that smallpox inspired to populations, even in the 20th century. And then there's the whole history of he stigma of "pock face" and all that. My mother was always proud to show how little scarring she'd had from it.
Well done (again), HC! I skimmed over 2 - 3 articles and it seems experts are divided as to whether or not to destroy the smallpox samples. One pointed to possible research in terms of future vaccines. One other point made was that neither the US nor Russia trust one another enough to actually destroy the samples. I suspect the status quo will remain in place. Thanks again, HC. Have a great week.🙏🏼
Yes, I think things will stay as they are too. I just pray it never gets out!
@@HistoryCallingamen.
Very interesting! I learnt about Edward Jenner and his vaccinations at school, but didn't know much about the rest of it.
Thanks Hannah. I knew very little about it as well before researching this. It's a fascinating story though.
Good evening history calling it is so cold and it is getting warmer here in Newcastle England
Lucky you :-) I think it's meant to rain in NI for most of the week :-(
I love that you are making content in more areas of history. I’m fascinated with the history of medicine. The history of anesthesia in childbirth might be another topic for you. I wrote a paper on it for an undergraduate class but would love to learn more. Anyway, great video. Of course it is distressing but very worth understanding.
Thanks Carol. Yes, I like to mix it up sometimes (though sadly this video is an epic flop, but you win some you lose some). Yes, I can think of at least one video topic around anesthesia in childbirth that I might be able to get people to watch. Thanks for the idea :-)
@@HistoryCalling I’m so sorry it hasn’t gone over as hoped. I really like it and will be sure to share it. It’s a tough business you’re in. 🙁
Brilliant very timely xxx
Thank you very much :-)
Only listening to this due to intense trypophobia (going to the Edward Jenner museum actually turned out to be my first experience of it 😂) but I’m loving the range of topics you’re covering at the moment ❤
In 1978 the hospital my dad was working at accidentally released the virus. At least one person died (a second they don't know because they weren't going to do a PM on them just in case). It took over five years to clean up after it.
Oh my goodness! I'm sure that made the news.
@@HistoryCalling it did. 500 people had to be put into isolation for it. The researcher took his own life. They don't even know how the lady who died caught it. It was the Abid strain. It was the third remaining strain, after the two that still exist, and was destroyed as a result of the incident.
Oh my word. I've never heard that story. I'm glad to hear they destroyed it after that though. That's very sad about the researcher as I'm sure he didn't mean to do it and tragic for the woman concerned as well.
Birmingham, Janet Parker?
@@IMBlakeley yes. It was heartlands hospital, which was then East Birmingham Hospital. I think it was at the Little Bromwich site opposite the back of the main hospital.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Fascinating to hear about the history of the virus. I was born in 1972, so just missed out on the vaccine.
I'm a relatively new subscriber & have binged all your videos. I've always been into history, especially the Tudors & Medieval Britain. Even though I've read countless books on the subject, I've learnt new things from your channel, which surprised me!
Keep up the great work. 😊
I'm 67 and I remember being inoculated for smallpox and polio. I also remember parents deliberately exposing kids to chicken pox, measles and mumps to "get it over with". The idea being, if one of the kids on the block got any of those three diseases, they'd all get it eventually. This may horrify some younger people, but when I was a child, that's how things were done. Funny how things change.
Forgot to mention, I don't think the remaining stores of smallpox should be destroyed because they may be useful in the next zoonotic (or other) pandemic. You never know what could be helpful in the future.
Just when I thought I couldn't love your channel any more❤
Aww, thank you very much :-)
Loved yet another episode that delved into history with a scientific twist.
Thanks Erin :-)
What a great topic! Another gap in my education plugged in by an injection of HC. The last film reference I've seen- two night ago- was in the 1998 "The Man in the Iron Mask", in which a smallpox bluff was used to keep a ruse from being discovered (a common plot device). As an Atlantan, I fear that one of the two remaining samples is only about five freeway exits from where I type this!
Haha, excellent punning in your second sentence. I appreciated that. You've put me in the mood to watch The Man in the Iron Mask now (and also to avoid Atlanta, Georgia like the proverbial plague!)
Thank you for this! I always wondered! Now I know. Great work again!
Thank you so much. Glad you found the topic interesting :-)
Highly recommend Jennifer Lee Carrell’s book The Speckled Monster, which is mostly about Lady Mary Wortley Montague and Dr. Zabdiel Boylston. It’s a great read. I clearly remember receiving the vaccine when I guess I was five; it was the method where the skin was scratched on the upper arm and a scab would form and then fall off. It itched like crazy.
Thanks for the book recommendation. Yeah, I've read some other scab stories here in the comments. It sounds like it was quite the experience, but better than catching the real thing of course.
I cannot think of a more timely topic. So well done -- thank you for that.
Thanks Sarah :-)
I was vaccinated for small pox in the 1960's - I was born in 1959. I remember all my classmates having the round mark on their upper arm but don't remember much about how the vaccine felt. I do remember seeing some adults with very pockmarked faces who had survived smallpox
See, if more people today had your memories of seeing survivors with the pot marks, I don't think they would be as many anti-vaxers. Unfortunately humans are very quick to forget how awful these diseases can be. If C19 had been visibly scarring people, I think there would have been a much greater uptake in the vaccines too.
Nice detour into medical history!
Why thank you :-)
Hi HC, i have discovered your channel recently late last year had im already so much more fascinated by history because of this channel. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.
Thank you so much Marcus and welcome aboard :-)
A new video + HC’s soothing voice = I’m going to sleep well tonight ❤️
Wow love how your expanding your history fo all..thanks @historycalling ❤
Thanks Wendy. I like to mix it up sometimes :-)
Wonderful video as always History Calling. I came for the history but stayed for dried scabs blown up noses.
Graphic. I wanted to wash my hands after I watched. Lol. I knew about scratching the skin and applying but not blowing the scabs up the nose. Wow. Good job! I like the content. Lvya much
Yeah, that scabbies up the nose part was pretty gross. I hadn't heard of that either.
Thank you so much for another well thought out and well researched video! I vividly remember my smallpox vaccine in the late 60s mine was on my arm. My mother has a scar on her thigh and we both remember that shot very well. It hurt I didn’t know at the time how grateful I should be for it, but now I do.
Just when I was going to rewatch HC videos, I saw the new one published. Your timeing is impeccable ☝️😌😍😁
Of course you should still feel free to rewatch other ones 😁
@@HistoryCalling Oh, I do every night. Your videos are my "preparing to go to bed"-videos, they are the perfect level of interesting and calming (including this one about smallpox 😂), and their scientific accuracy is therapy for my librarian mind. That will never stop 😁
Thank you for the very comprehensive coverage.
Good evening to history calling from Bea 🇬🇧
Hi Bea. Hope you don't have a phobia of medical videos :-)
Happy at.partickday.on.sunday.from
Bea🇬🇧
Thank you history calling from Bea 🇬🇧
Thank you. Can't believe it's that time of year again already.
Another great video! Keep spreading the good word 💛
Hi, interesting video on smallpox it's a deadly disease people die of. How are you doing? I'm doing well, and so is my cat Benjamin. We have spring-like weather in Ontario, Canada. How is the weather where you are? My cat Benjamin and I always enjoy watching your history videos. Have a great day. See you next video 😊 in the next video in the future. Could you do Jane Boleyn sister in law and wife of George Boleyn. She's from the tudor times 16th century
I actually already have a couple of videos on Jane if you're interested. There's one looking at her death (along with Katherine Howard) and another on her supposed picture (which isn't actually her). Give Benjamin a pat from me. It's going to rain here all week I think!
@HistoryCalling im loving you vids history calling your voice is so pretty 😍 i hope you have a great day god bless😀-Malaika
Very interesting. I wasn't aware of the background history of the disease. I was vaccinated when I was a little kid. Not sure if it was for smallpox though?
I think if it was smallpox you'll have (or have had as a child) a big scar and that'll be the giveaway.
Thanks! As always enjoyed it
THANK YOU SO MUCH WENDY for your very kind donation. I'm glad you liked the video :-)
To me, the smallpox just destroyed the lives of too many people that they would never get over
Yes, it ruined and ended so many lives. I'm so glad we're rid of it these days.
Love the new and interesting topics, hc❤❤. I agree a modern epidemic of smallpox is possible....no the remaining samples should not be destroyed...might be needed someday for new research 🎉😮
i'm in one of the last cadres of people (age group wise) that has a smallpox vaccine scar. and now i am living through the retirn of thrice be-damned measles because of anti vaxxers. :(
If you are worried about your immunity to measles, you can ask your physician to check your measles, mumps and rubeola (German measles) titration the next time that you get a blood test for anything else. If your resistance to any of the three is under the threshold for immunity, then you can get another dose of the MMR vaccine. My sister and I both had our titration checked and we were under the threshold for measles, though not for mumps because we had it as children and not for rubeola because we got vaccinated for it when we were each in the 5th grade (about 9 years old).
I actually got an MMR booster in late 2019 because I was working in a university and the students were having mumps outbreaks, so I thought a wee booster wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course a few months later catching mumps was the least of my worries! :-) Still, I was support what Tessa says below - you could ask your doctor about getting another jab.
Oh i did. Covid can damage your immunity, plus my age. Better safe than sorry @tessat338
@HistoryCalling a friend doesn't sero convert for measles:( she's had it 3 times
Yes 3 actual times despite vaccines.
She depends on herd immunity
@@fabricdragon Yes, there are a number of people who have that problem. On top of that, measles destroys the immune system's memory cells, compounding the problem with other viruses. It sounds terrifying and why it is so important for the rest of us who can develop immunity to interrupt the chain of infection.
Thank you for your (as always) meticulously researched video! I did know about variolation and Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu, but I always thought that Edward Jenner was the "inventor" of vaccination as opposed to variolation.
Oh yes, I remember being vaccinated against smallpox. In Germany, where I live, smallpox vaccination was compulsory until vaccines became obsolete after eradication. Everyone had to be vaccinated twice, once at the age of a few months and once at the age of twelve.
Obviously I don't remember being vaccinated as a baby, but my mother once told me that I had a severe reaction to the vaccine and had to go to the children's hospital for a few days.
Vaccinations for twelve-year-old children were performed directly at school. Once a year, a medical team would come to the school and all children who had turned twelve within the last year would be vaccinated. We had to stand in line, with our upper arm exposed, and one child after the other was inoculated. I can't remember if I had any strong reaction at the time - I suspect not, otherwise I think I would remember. My second smallpox vaccination was in 1972, when smallpox remained a threat.
I still have my smallpox vaccination scars on my left arm.
as someone who remembers getting the vaccine in my school gymnasium and still has the scar left behind, it is great you are bringing the history of how I came to have both.
Ah, I have similar memories, though in my case it was for a BCG vaccine (which I also think has been discontinued in the years since, at least here in the UK).
Interesting topic and question. Thanks.
My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed it :-)
This video needs to be shown in schools! Two of my sons are anti-vaxxers and I'm at a loss as to why! All three of my kids were fully vaccinated and believe in science! Unfortunately, my two older sons fell for the nonsense they've been hearing online. That being said, I remember my mother taking me to the doctor for my smallpox vaccine around age 6, and I remember the doctor telling my mother that he will inject me on the back of my shoulder so that my scare can be hidden by clothing. I don't remember experiencing pain because my mother distracted me as he inoculated me. I am so grateful that I had such a considerate and compassionate doctor! I also want to mention that I didn't hear any mention of the fact that Abigail Adams had herself and her children inoculated while John Adams was attending the 2nd Continental Congress, as well as Gen. George Washington ordering that the all members of the Continental army were to be inoculated against smallpox, which of course prevented a total collapse of the army had they not been inoculated. And, I don't think the last remaining samples should be destroyed. First, we can't trust the Russians to destroy their sample, and two, we can use it for future research and to make more vaccines should smallpox reappear.
I still remember getting it
Loved this thanks HC!
Not sure why but "the ✨️rash✨️" absolutely sent me 😅
Thanks Hollie :-)
I did a clinical trial for a newer version of the vaccine about 10 years ago. It was a very rewarding experience.
Thank you 😊 very good
Thanks Nathan. You're welcome :-)
I received a multi-tine Injection for smallpox when I was 6 ( all students got it) and my last vaccine was in 1976. The scar on my arm is almost gone after 60 years.
It's a shame it wasn't a lifetime vaccine though. I'd feel a bit cheated if I had a scar and it didn't even protect me for life :-)
I’m 72. I used to have a cute little mark on my upper thigh from the smallpox vaccine which I believe I got at birth.I noticed it disappeared somewhere in my thirties.
Hmm. I wonder why it lasted so long only to disappear at that point? Of course I suppose it's always nice to have one less scar. It's a shame the vaccine doesn't provide life-long immunity though. That would be worth a little thigh scar.
@@HistoryCalling
Oh, hell, yeah. Actually, I liked my little scar. It reminded me of a sealing wax seal only not so sharply etched.
@@HistoryCalling One of my chicken pox scars was like that.The other 2 on my face have faded to the point where you have to look to find them.
That's rather frightening.
Yes, it was a terrifying disease. It really puts the world's recent problems with a certain illness into perspective.
As a child around four or five I received my small pox needle and my polio sugar cubes, but they did not have inoculations for measles {14 day or three day), chicken pox, nor mumps. I had all four of them one week in between during first grade! It's a wonder they passed me to second grade.
To me, the black death remains unbeatable in terms of terror, but smallpox isn’t too far away… It’s interesting to speculate what would’ve happened if Elizabeth I had perished back in 1562👀
Indeed it is. Personally I think Katherine Grey would likely have been installed as Queen. She was next in line according to Henry's will, she was Protestant and I think she already had a son by that point (I'd need to double check dates).
@@HistoryCalling I’m 90% sure she did, her clandestine wedding was in 1560, if I’m not mistaken. Her story always makes me sad and a bit angry, tbh :’)
Yes, the Grey girls all had varying degrees of misery in their lives.
Thank you.
You're very welcome :-)
I was vaccinated as a child around 1947. My great grandfather was wounded while fighting in the American Civil War around 1863 and caught smallpox in the hospital, as a result of which he lost an eye. I don’t know why he wasn’t vaccinated. Now that most people are not vaccinated, those vials of live vaccine worry me. I wonder if some sort of inactive model could be preserved so that live vaccine could be destroyed. Thank you for diversifying your posts in such a fascinating way!
As I mentioned to you in a post on Patreon last fall, I’m preparing a presentation on Manzoni’s representation of plague denial in I Promessi Sposi, a novel set during the Italian plague years. He researched it thoroughly and people’s responses in the 17th century were uncannily like the resistance so recently seen to vaccination against the late unpleasantness.
Oh it's not live vaccine I'm afraid, it's live virus! :-( That's very sad about your g-grandfather, though I suppose he was lucky to survive at all, but still. No wonder your own parents made sure you were properly vaccinated.
Yes, what goes around comes around and sadly anti-vaxers are no new thing :-(
I’m relatively new to your channel and have officially seen all of your vids now! Love your channel! ALSO, how do I find more info on why medieval royals were depicted as standing on top of animals? It’s so strange and I can’t find any info on why.
It was often an animal from their coat of arms, like there’s a picture of Richard III standing on top of a white boar, which was one of his heraldic devices. I don’t know if that’s always the case, but it’s one reason why they were depicted like that.
All of them! Wow! Thank you very much. That's very impressive. I need more followers like you. As to your other question, as Beth says it's to do with their coats of arms. If we were living in Game of Thrones, Daenerys would be standing on a dragon for example.
@@HistoryCalling thank you for responding ♥️
@@beth7935 thanks! I just find it so odd that they’re standing on them as opposed to having the animal at their feet lol
I am a US citizen and was given a smallpox vaccination as an infant - they said it did not take & was given a second one a few weeks later on my upper thigh.
In 1966 I was required to get another smallpox vaccination in preparation for a Summer exchange program to Germany & all the German speaking countries.
So wait, this means you have 3 smallpox scars?! That's just cruel :-0
One more thing. Fun Fact: did you know, that, prince Alexander of the Netherlands was rejected by Queen Victoria.
I did not. I guess she only ever had eyes for Albert :-)
It's great to remind ourselves of this fantastic human success story. Both because of the hope it offers for human cooperation in the future, and to demonstrate that vaccines are just unbelievably good things.
That was a great topic and I learned a new history lesson. Well done as always. That accent is always fun to hear. In America the Liberals want to get rid of Beef because they produce massive amounts of Farts. I never smelled or heard a massive cow gas event. Maybe that's why? The Pox. Thank you for doing what you do
“The Pox” also refers to syphilis, an STI which is increasing. If smallpox was released, I think most doctors would not guess what it was at first.
You're very welcome and I'm glad to hear you've never experience a cow fart as I don't imagine they're enjoyable :-)
Great video! I love when you expand topics because I could listen to you talk about anything! I’m not very medically intelligent but what would be the point of the US and Russia having these diseases in storage? Why not destroy them so there is no threat of it ever surfacing again? I would love to know the answers to both questions if anyone has a good answer to either! Thanks!❤
Thanks . It is a terrifying disease
I was a paramedic, graduating in May 2002. Straight from school I started working for an EMS service. After 9/11 weapons of mass destruction were looked at a lot more than before (or even since to be honest) and we were offered the small pox vaccine to protect against an outbreak. I believe in vaccines and I’m vaccinated and boosted now but after the presentation from doctors during the WMD classes everyone was mandated to take I opted against it. It’s still the only vaccine that I have ever turned down. It seemed so scary and could be catastrophic if not given properly or if contaminated because they had long since stopped producing it.
I feel that it is dangerous to store the remaining samples. Given the current precarious state of world politics I shudder to think what would happen if it got in the wrong hands. 😮😮😮
I am American I was in the last group of children to get the vaccine. It was required before I entered kindergarten in 1972. I vaguely remember the sore that developed on my arm. It hurt for several days. Now I have the scar from the vaccine. Happily, I am safe from monkeypox, which was making it's rounds.
Not to be a downer, but are you safe from monkeypox? It was my understanding that the SP vaccine didn't provide lifelong immunity. Might be worth checking with your doctor.
Normally I watch a lot of your videos, but I think I'll pass on this one, it reminded me of a bad rash i had as a child.
Oh dear. That's quite alright. I don't want to give you the itchies (not sure that's a word, but hopefully you know what I mean) :-)
I have a scar. I lived in the S.F. Bay Area. I remember lining up, I was about 10 years old. My childs memory is that it was not a needle but an airgun, they used. I remember having to drink something afterward.
I find it very interesting how long ago early vaccines and protocols were created.
Same here :-)
My father was inoculated twice--once a child in Greece, and in the US Army because the first vaccine didn't take. He said the second time the vaccine was pretty rough, in terms of the side effects. I had no idea the vaccine had such a short period of effectiveness. I didn't realize it was eradicated relatively late--in my lifetime!
I am too young to have gotten the smallpox vaccine, but I did contract chickenpox as a teenager, for which only a generation late we have a vaccine.
Very interesting. More of these, please. Maybe one on lepra...?
I have videos on the dancing plague and the Black Death if you're interested? See my Medicine and Illness playlist.
@@HistoryCalling Thanks, I've seen the videos already. Still interesting topic ...
There was an outbreak of smallpox here in Wales on 1962 in which 19 people died. I can remember the fear in the adults who probably remembered the awful consequences of this disease. Fortunately it was contained. I still have the smallpox immunisation scar on my arm which is about one centimeter in diameter.
Yes, it just shows the danger of letting vaccine rates fall (for diseases still in circulation I mean). People are very quick to forget how bad it can be until there's an outbreak.
My vaccine record has the smallpox vaccine on it. But then again I was born 17 years before 1980!😂😂
Excellent video!
Randomly, since the 2022 outbreak of MPox (formerly monkeypox) which has mostly affected men who have sex with men, a decent sized cohort of people around the world have basically been vaccinated against smallpox, as the vaccine is effective against both viruses. It doesn’t prevent MPox completely but it greatly reduces the severity and duration of lesions, which can be absolutely excruciating.
While I’m not in a high risk group, there were doses left over when we were doing mass vaccinations that would’ve gone to waste, so I was very happy to have the protection.
Thanks for the great work!
I am a Sept 73 baby. US I did not get the vaccine.
A friend US Aug 72 did
Oh, you just missed out. Ah well, look at this way, your Aug. 72 friend isn't immune anymore anyway.
@@HistoryCalling
🤣 Probably not.
The measles outbreak in the States concerns me a little. Though I am alot further North.
I work at the College too. So they should be vaccinated too
I was born in Cuba,in the late 1960s,and received the small pox, tuberculosis,and polio vaccines around the age of three. I still have my vaccination card. I cant remember if I received the vaccine for the German measles too. We were not allowed to immigrate to the United States without full immunization back then. I stillhave the scar on my left,upper arm.
I was vaccinated against Smallpox in The late 60s.
I am not sure I was old enough to be at school.
I remember the giant scab on my arm.
I did the one thing I was told to not do.
I picked off the scab.
I have no memory of reaction.
A few decades later my mother in law was shocked when her grandchildren were not vaccinated against Smallpox.
She did not believe me when I told her the vaccine was no longer available.
She asked her own doctor.
I have a confession that'll make you feel better - I picked the scab off my BCG jab. It got really gross and took months to heal. :-0
I'm a near-70s Baby Boomer. I (like everyone else at thr time) had the the smallpox vaccination - perhaps more accurately termed inoculation in reference to the skin scratch procedure. I don't recall any particular side effects, but there was a pustule there for several days. The scar is still barely visible. Many of us also had the [Sabin] polio sugar cube.
I keep seeing people who got the polio vaccine on a sugar cube, whereas I got it droppered into my mouth from a pipette and it tasted awful. I'm feeling very hard done by over here :-)
Thanks!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR VERY GENEROUS DONATION. I hope the video didn't gross you out too much :-)
We should be worried more about Ebola than smallpox, especially with the current unrestrained and uncontrolled movement of peoples from third world areas into more developed countries.
I’m more concerned about TB. That is a lot more common than western people realize.
@@sarapanzarella97 Certainly more than one disease to be concerned about. Consider the current and sudden measles outbreaks in Chicago and California migrant shelters.
Yes, there are a lot to be concerned about at the moment and certainly most diseases are more worrying that smallpox currently is, given how well contained it is.
I was born and raised in the Canal Zone, Republic of Panama. I got my first small pox vaccine way before I could remember it. I do remember the booster vaccines that we got relatively often, but I don't remember how often. (I'm 68) The one I do remember was no big deal. A few gentle scratches on the upper arm (left arm, in my case), and a drop or two of a clear liquid. Done and done. I think that the reason that I remember that particular vaccine so well is that it "took", meaning it actually made one single small pox on my arm. That bad boy itched for ever! It also left a rather distint scar that I eventually put a tattoo over.
Personally, I would much rather get a vaccine to prevent some random evil illness than to contract the illness. I am not big on suffering, which is why I have gotten every vaccine that became available for the most recent pandemic. No, I do not like needles. However, getting a jab is much better than dying of something preventable.
At the time of my birth in 1970 in the US the vaccine was still pretty common, but my pediatrician was somewhat progressive and said there was no reason to scar a child for it anymore, since the disease was essentially gone. My older sister has the scar, I do not. I was one of the only kids in my age group that didn't have it. Funnily enough, my spouse, born a year earlier than me and in a different state, did not get the vaccine either.
Hmm, I suppose your doctor was correct but for all they knew you might have gone travelling for some reason during childhood or early adulthood and been somewhere that you could have picked it up. I'm not a doctor, but I dunno if I would have stopped vaccinating kids that early. Still, all's well that ends well I suppose and you've obviously never had sp. :-)
Didn’t Elizabeth the 1 have smallpox’s thank god that now days it’s gone gosh smallpox was deadly and big eww
She sure did. Fortunately she lived through it.
If memory serves, I heard that measles and polio can also become extinct, if people stop fear mongering against immunizations. wth, Florida?
There are only 3 countries in which polio remains endemic. The issue is that immunizations in those countries tend to be very challenging due to continued wars. But it's entirely possible.
The measles vaccine is extremely effective, but measles is also extremely virulent. 9 out of 10 people exposed will catch it and it can remain airborne for hours. So to eradicate measles it would take almost 100% vaccination rates. Not happening any time soon.
Yes, I think that's theoretically true though there are problems with making it a reality as the other commenter has explained.
I was vaccinated in year 7. The jab people came back to the school 4 years later, and i tested as not immune, so I had to have it again. I have scar on each upper arm, but they're barely noticeable, 40 years later. I hope the world never sees anything as dreadful as smallpox ever again.
I always wondered why I barely saw the scar anymore and didn't have it myself.
We should not destroy it, it could be useful some day
yay for vaccination! :)
I agree :-)
History calling I know you find Anne Boleyn the most interesting wife but who is the least interesting wife in your opinion great video
Depends on your perspective I suppose. We don't know a lot about Anne of Cleves. It doesn't mean she was uninteresting, she's just more difficult to get a handle on.
Hello HC. In one of my stories, my creative character was captured by Empress Elizabeth of Russia; she and A group of soldiers confront him because they wanted him to deal with A monster; he took A glass and uses it to kill ALL of her guards.
Do you ever publish your stories, or are they just for you?
@@HistoryCalling Just for me. What do you think ?
You could always try self-publishing if you fancied putting them out there, but didn't want to go the more time-consuming traditional route.