immunity, frequently checked during health screenings at places like Ellis Island. Although smallpox was declared eradicated in the United States in the nineteen fifties and removed from routine childhood immunizations in the early nineteen seventies, the legacy of this vaccine remains etched into the skin of millions.
The formation of this unique mark is directly tied to the specific method used to administer the vaccine. Unlike modern injections that use a standard hypodermic needle, the smallpox vaccine utilized a live virus called vaccinia, which is related to but significantly less
