eli5: Why do some older people have a big round vaccine scar on their arm?

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I mean the needles back in the day couldn’t have been that big right?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s from a smallpox vaccination. Smallpox vaccinations used a [special 2-pronged needle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Smallpox_vaccine_injection.jpg/440px-Smallpox_vaccine_injection.jpg) kind of like a tiny fork, and they poked you a bunch of times with it in a circle. This area would [scab over](https://content.healthwise.net/resources/12.4/en-us/media/medical/hw/h9991046.jpg) and eventually turn into a scar. Countries stopped giving people smallpox vaccines in the 70’s because it was eliminated, so very few people born after then have that scar.

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