I still remember being a kid and spotting a curious scar on my mother’s arm. It was high up near her shoulder—a small ring of tiny indents surrounding a larger mark. For some reason, it captured my attention, though I never figured out why at the time. I might have asked her about it, and she probably explained, but like so many childhood mysteries, the answer slipped from my memory over the years.
That is, until a few summers ago when I helped an elderly woman off a train—and noticed the same exact scar, in the same spot, on her shoulder. My curiosity sparked all over again. I didn’t have time to ask her about it, so I called my mother instead. This time, she reminded me of something I had apparently forgotten: that scar wasn’t just any mark—it was from the smallpox vaccine.
Smallpox was once a terrifying viral disease, leaving fever, rash, and often disfigurement in its wake. In the 20th century, it killed roughly 3 out of every 10 people who caught it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But thanks to a successful vaccination campaign, smallpox was declared eradicated in the United States in 1952, and routine vaccination stopped in 1972.
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