When I was a child, I remember being strangely fascinated by a small scar on my mother’s upper arm. It sat high near her shoulder — a faint ring of tiny indents surrounding a deeper one in the center.
I can’t recall what exactly drew my attention to it, but I do remember staring at it often, wondering how it got there. As the years passed, I stopped noticing it altogether. It was always there, of course, but my curiosity faded into the background of childhood memories.
Then, one summer a few years ago, I helped an elderly woman off a train — and there it was again. The exact same mark, in the exact same spot. That familiar pattern instantly brought back my childhood wonder. I didn’t have time to ask her about it before the train pulled away, but the mystery resurfaced in my mind.
Later that day, I called my mother and asked about it. She laughed and reminded me that she had actually told me the story before — more than once, in fact. The scar, she explained, came from the smallpox vaccine.
A Mark of Protection
Smallpox was once one of humanity’s most feared diseases. Caused by a contagious virus, it led to high fevers, severe rashes, and, in many cases, death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during the 20th century, roughly 3 out of every 10 infected people died, while many survivors were left with permanent scars or blindness.
But thanks to one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in history, smallpox was eradicated in the United States by 1952 — and globally by 1980. Routine smallpox vaccinations in the U.S. stopped in 1972, marking the end of an era.
Before that time, however, nearly every child received the vaccine, and it left a distinctive reminder: a small, circular scar. In a way, it was the earliest “vaccine passport” — a visible sign that you were protected from one of the deadliest diseases known to man.
Why the Smallpox Vaccine Left a Scar
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| Smallpox scar. Credit / Shutterstock |
The scar wasn’t an accident. It was a result of how the vaccine worked. Unlike most modern vaccines, which are given with a single needle injection, the smallpox vaccine used a special two-pronged needle.
The administrator would dip the needle into the vaccine and make several quick punctures into the skin, introducing the weakened virus just beneath the surface. The area would soon develop a red bump, then a blister, and eventually a scab. Once the scab fell off, it left behind the characteristic round scar — proof that the vaccine had done its job.
So, that little mark on my mother’s arm — the one that caught my attention all those years ago — was more than just a scar. It was a badge of survival, a tiny reminder of a global victory over one of the most devastating diseases in human history.
Do you still carry the smallpox vaccine scar?
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