The Smallpox Vaccine: A Real Threat that Should be a Forgotten Threat
The debate whether or not the vaccine contributed to the decline and
eradication of smallpox infections is hotly debated between the
pro-vaccine establishment and its opponents. Although no longer
administered in developed countries, the vaccine continues to be
dispensed in poorer developing nations and continues to contribute to
smallpox injuries and deaths. For example, in the Philippines there was
an increase in 112,000 smallpox infections and 61,000 deaths just two
years after the vaccine was introduced.[4] Historians of medical
science regard smallpox infections as a disease of the poor and
impoverished, where slum communities are fraught with unhealthy
sanitation, contaminated water and food, and other life debilitating
living conditions.[5]
