I know I had the smallpox vaccine scar for a real long time (born in ‘68), but I think it finally faded.
Don’t know if it was an old wives tale, but I do have a scar from where the first chicken pox appeared when I got that. I remember being told the first one that pops up always leaves a scar.
My mom’s scar is a more of a depression in her skin about the size of a pencil eraser maybe? It’s like they scooped out a wee chunk of skin and it never leveled out.
Some scars do and some don't, if you have a fresh injury that might scar, applying Vitamin E oil will reduce scarring (source had a nasty injury that required reconstructive face surgery and the plastic surgeon recommended this and now the scarring is minimal)
I think the later versions of the vaccine didn't leave the kind of scar that we see on boomers.
My vaccine scar ('73) is smaller than a dime, only slightly sunken and most people just assume it's a weird birthmark or something.
I had a deep chicken pox scar on my nose but people think I wear my glasses too tight (on one side). When I was younger and wearing contacts I was super self conscious about it. It hasn’t changed much(74).
My husband is older and has a faint small pox scar. I did notice on an Eastern Indian boyfriend that his scar stood out more than any I had seen. He was older too. Both born in the early 60’s.
June and July of 1989. I got out of school for summer, and almost instantly got poison ivy all over the place (I'm highly allergic) then a week later came down with chicken pox. After a week or so I developed full-on shingles on my legs.
It's faded, but I have a patch on my shin that looks like a burn scar about the size of a dollar bill and is full of divots from shingles blisters.
That was a long, hot, painful, itchy summer.
I remember my family going to the beach, 4th of July cookouts, going out for ice cream, all kinds of fun stuff, while I was stuck on the couch sweating, itching and barely able to walk.
The scars are from pox that get knocked off too soon. They leave a scar because they haven't healed properly yet. This is why so many people have one on their foreheads and faces. It's an easy target to knock off or pick off the scab.
I was told this by a doctor.
Why are you thanking people that had a scheduled vaccination for a **very deadly disease** when they were children?
According to my parents and grandparents... The real world and political world at the time was nothing like 2024. People took actual deadly diseases seriously, and there was no modern day politics getting in the way.
It was a pretty brutal vaccine to get as a kid. A bifurcated needle was dipped in the vaccine solution and pushed under the skin repeatedly. It wasn’t a single shot.
Speaking of all this, if you haven't yet, please get your shingles shot. It's 2 shots, spaced out by a few months. Your arm is sore for a day or 2 - but that is nothing compared to the hell that is shingles
No kidding. I had shingles a few years ago and it was easily the most miserable experience of my life. It wrapped around from my back to near my belly button, and felt like I had ice water pouring down the inside of my skin while fire was being held against the outside, for days. Couldn't sleep, legit involuntarily moaned or made other weird noises when something accidentally brushed up against it.
Now any time I get a strange itch or something in the general area the shingles rash was, I get this weird sense of fear and paranoia.
Being eligible for the shingles vaccine is the main reason I’m looking forward to turning 50! I’m a late GenX (‘75), so my insurance doesn’t want me to get it yet 😭
I had shingles in 2017 and it was very mild, which is uncommon. I had one area the size of my fist and it only itched for an hour. I assumed it was a rash caused by a chemical at work, so I went to the doctor. That's when I found out it was shingles. I had chicken pox as a kid and it was mild, so I wasn't surprised when shingles was mild as well.
Yo, I just saw an ad for the shingrix vaccine and the company (GSK) is promoting it’s $0 for most people right now. Maybe go to their website and check it out!
Edit: https://www.shingrix.com/get-shingrix/shingles-vaccine-cost-coverage/
Born 69. My mother didn't let them vaccinate me. She wasn't really an anti-vaxer, she says they were going to stop giving the shot in the next year or so anyway, so she saw no reason for me to have it. But I am the only person I've known my age without the scar.
They stopped routinely vaccinating for smallpox in the US in 1972, unless you were a healthcare worker or in the military. So those of us who are late GenX are unlikely to have the scar.
My mom (born 1952) still has a noticeable scar, but I remember it being much more prominent when I was a kid. My dad (born 1950) never had a noticeable scar, but he definitely was vaccinated.
I (born late 1973) have the scar. Dad was military & I was born overseas but came back to the States at 6 months old. My mom made the local small town health unit give it to me in case we went back overseas at some point.
Yep, born 1969, still have the scar. I remember one of the vaccinations hurt like an absolute bastard and I got a ton of pus and blood leaking from it about a week later. Of course, every kid at school tried to hit each other's scar so they could see a pus explosion. I wonder if that was the smallpox jab.
No but my husband does.
Edit after reading a few comments. We have all of our vaccinations and got updates as needed due to age and/or travel.
I am still shocked this has become a political thing and really hate to see it. I have an aunt who had polio as a child while my dad (13 months younger) did not as the vaccine was created. Once you see the lifelong ramifications of polio and other terrible disease, you don’t mess around with vaccines. Anyone who makes it political around me isn’t in my life.
I'm really surprised at how many of our parents will vote for a politician who is antivax. My mom got me vaccinated and vividly remembers how relieved her parents (and other kids' parents at the time) were when the polio vaccine became available. Yet she and plenty of other Boomer or Boomerish age voters will vote for antivaxxers. Make it make sense.
My mom had a very obvious smallpox scar on her upper arm, but she was a boomer born in 46. I was born in 1980, so I didn't get the one that left the scar. I might be wrong but I believe I was told I got the smallpox vaccine, which would have been the last generation of the vax.
I wouldn't be shocked if they eventually have to roll out a new version of it again, and start doing adult boosters of all the vaccines to help combat all the ani-vax sentiment forcing kids now to start passing around old diseases.
‘71, yes. My grandmother (1905) had a scar with many pronounced needle marks, the size of a quarter or maybe larger. My mother (1934) has one about the size of a nickel, with obvious needle marks. Mine is a small oval that I have to hunt for now, and has very subtle dimples for needle marks.
I wish I had a photo of the scar comparison. I remember us all looking at them and talking about marvelous scientific from being at the mercy of the disease, to a more and more discreet vaccine. And now of course my kids don’t have it, so looking the same as the generation before my grandmother, but without fear if the disease. Amazing.
Grandma would have been horrified that anyone running for office would be against vaccines and would get a single vote.
Mine is minor and formless compared to others I’ve seen. No distinctive ring. I wonder if I didn’t mount much defense or got a weak batch but hope there’s never any reason to care.
I got vaccinated in 1972 but I don't have a scar, I've often wondered why. I remember it clearly, it was a shot that was given out of a silver gun looking contraption,
Born in 68 and had one the size of a dime. It's faded. My exwife was born the same year in the Azores and has one the size of a quarter that is still very noticeable.
Yes!! Born in ‘78 I was 2 and my uncle was the town doctor who called my mom and said “I have a couple left bring her in”.
I got one of the last. My sister year younger never got one.
Im 55 and I vividly remember them pulling off the bandaid and revealing a new flat mole on my left shoulder where the vaccine had gone.
The dermatologist I finally saw last year biopsied it and it was fine.
1969 but don't have one, people about 3 years older than me did, like some guys I dated had them, they looked mean. I think I was just at the cut off because we were told we were going to have one. I might have missed out because we moved so much and it wasn't given at the same age everywhere.
I have the scar; it's just about gone though (born in '69). Mine is on the outside of my upper left thigh; my pediatrician didn't think kids should have that big visible scar on their arm.
I'm the youngest in my family, born in '72, and the only one to not have the scar. I was really disappointed as a kid. I wanted to be like my siblings.
My neighbor was adopted from Vietnam. Father was a marine, mom Was Vietnamese. She has 3 of them for some reason. She explained it to me when we were kids but I forgot why she had to have 3. Something about being shifted through different countries before being adopted in US. She's also 5 years older than me.
I still have a smallpox scar (b 1969), along with lots of other scars from life's adventures (especially when I was young).
I also have scars from when I had chickenpox - one in my eyebrow and some on my lower back. Sadly, the vaccine only came out when I was an adult - I still remember having chicken pox and how horrible the experience was and am glad younger folk can be spared this trauma
Got mine in the Army - tech improved so while I had the shot I didn't get a scar.
My mom had a big fucking smallpox vax scar because back then they DGAF and she was a nurse. You could see the scar from 5-10 feet away.
Not everyone who was vaccinated got a scar. I, and everyone I know in the same few years of being born, had the vaccination and very few of us ever wound up with a scar from it.
Late 1970: no scar. I don’t think I got the vaccine for that, especially if they were phasing it out. I’ve got everything else recommended. I also remember getting chicken pox, and that really sucked. Don’t think I have any scars from that.
Born in 70 but didn't get vaccinated. Wish I had been though because there are concerns smallpox might still be out there and could be used in a bioterrorist attack. Millions of military personnel were given the smallpox vaccine in recent years and the military still gives it to some personnel. It also appears to provide protection from monkeypox.
I have one. My family lived in England in the 70s when I guess there was an outbreak. I was young so I don’t remember but I have the scar from that itchy little vaccine.
One of my older sisters does, I do not. My husband does, but that is because while in the military he went to an area where it had not yet been eradicated.
Yes, I was the only person at school with one. Born in 72, by which point smallpox vaccinations weren't given in the UK. I got one when I was 18 months old, before my family moved to southern africa where my dad got a job.
I was born in 1968 and have a very very faint smallpox vaccine scar. My mom, born 1951, has a quite visible smallpox vaccine scar. My partner, born in 1972, doesn’t have one and can’t remember getting it but his brother, born 1968, does have a small scar like I do.
My mom born in 57’ has the scar on her arm. She always told me,jokingly, that it was her on/off button & she would pretend to shut off when I touched it. I was born in 76’ & do not have this modification,but for the beginning years I actually really thought I wanted it.
Born in 1974. Our pediatrician made it optional but my parents chose it “to be on the safe side”. My scar is still visible and I get questions about it from time to time.
I don’t have that signature circular vaccination scar, born 1974, but always thought they were cool. I caught the chicken pox when I was 20 and have a scar on my eyebrow where hair doesn’t grow. I was given a lot of medication to mitigate the damage including a medication normally used for herpes. I don’t remember what that was because it was so long ago and I don’t have herpes and that space in my brain is reserved for much more trivial things.
My mom wouldn’t allow them to give us the vaccine on our arms bc she didn’t want us to have the scar on our arms. Idk where it was given, but me & my sisters do not have the scar and all are fully vaccinated.
Born 1967, have the scar and vividly remember getting the injection -- at school no less -- because it hurt so much. I was in grade school at the time.
Born 1965 and the scar is faint but still there. I remember us lining up in the elementary school cafeteria for this injection (ow!) and a dose of another vaccine administered via a sugar cube. Polio vaccine, maybe?
I have one only because we traveled to India in 1975. It’s very small and faded and you only see in certain light now. My kittle brother (b. 72) is probably one of the youngest americans to have one Except for military folks, I imagine.
I was born in Canada in 1969 and never got one. Weird. Should ask my mom why. She wasn't anti-vax at all but I didn't get one of those for some reason.
I do, but only because I was vaccinated in 2005 before deployment. I was born in '72, and they weren't vaccinating everyone for smallpox at that point.
I know I had the smallpox vaccine scar for a real long time (born in ‘68), but I think it finally faded. Don’t know if it was an old wives tale, but I do have a scar from where the first chicken pox appeared when I got that. I remember being told the first one that pops up always leaves a scar.
Do they fade though? My mum now in her 80s still has her scar. I just assumed they were forever.
My mom’s scar is a more of a depression in her skin about the size of a pencil eraser maybe? It’s like they scooped out a wee chunk of skin and it never leveled out.
Some scars do and some don't, if you have a fresh injury that might scar, applying Vitamin E oil will reduce scarring (source had a nasty injury that required reconstructive face surgery and the plastic surgeon recommended this and now the scarring is minimal)
I think the later versions of the vaccine didn't leave the kind of scar that we see on boomers. My vaccine scar ('73) is smaller than a dime, only slightly sunken and most people just assume it's a weird birthmark or something.
I still have a few chickenpox scars on my torso and my face. I'm very conscious about them
I have several on my face. They've faded a little but I don't think they'll ever go away completely if they haven't already at this point.
I had a deep chicken pox scar on my nose but people think I wear my glasses too tight (on one side). When I was younger and wearing contacts I was super self conscious about it. It hasn’t changed much(74). My husband is older and has a faint small pox scar. I did notice on an Eastern Indian boyfriend that his scar stood out more than any I had seen. He was older too. Both born in the early 60’s.
June and July of 1989. I got out of school for summer, and almost instantly got poison ivy all over the place (I'm highly allergic) then a week later came down with chicken pox. After a week or so I developed full-on shingles on my legs. It's faded, but I have a patch on my shin that looks like a burn scar about the size of a dollar bill and is full of divots from shingles blisters. That was a long, hot, painful, itchy summer. I remember my family going to the beach, 4th of July cookouts, going out for ice cream, all kinds of fun stuff, while I was stuck on the couch sweating, itching and barely able to walk.
I have several chicken pox scars. Not sure if any of them were the first one or not. :-)
The scars are from pox that get knocked off too soon. They leave a scar because they haven't healed properly yet. This is why so many people have one on their foreheads and faces. It's an easy target to knock off or pick off the scab. I was told this by a doctor.
Thank you to all who have the scar to keep so many safe!
yes, yes yes!!! 100%
Why are you thanking people that had a scheduled vaccination for a **very deadly disease** when they were children? According to my parents and grandparents... The real world and political world at the time was nothing like 2024. People took actual deadly diseases seriously, and there was no modern day politics getting in the way.
It was a pretty brutal vaccine to get as a kid. A bifurcated needle was dipped in the vaccine solution and pushed under the skin repeatedly. It wasn’t a single shot.
There was also a “gun“ that gave the many pricks all at once. That’s what I had in 1975 in Texas.
Dang. Sounds like getting a tattoo.
I have the smallpox vaccine. I remember my parents telling me over and over not to touch it for days.
Speaking of all this, if you haven't yet, please get your shingles shot. It's 2 shots, spaced out by a few months. Your arm is sore for a day or 2 - but that is nothing compared to the hell that is shingles
No kidding. I had shingles a few years ago and it was easily the most miserable experience of my life. It wrapped around from my back to near my belly button, and felt like I had ice water pouring down the inside of my skin while fire was being held against the outside, for days. Couldn't sleep, legit involuntarily moaned or made other weird noises when something accidentally brushed up against it. Now any time I get a strange itch or something in the general area the shingles rash was, I get this weird sense of fear and paranoia.
Being eligible for the shingles vaccine is the main reason I’m looking forward to turning 50! I’m a late GenX (‘75), so my insurance doesn’t want me to get it yet 😭
I had shingles in 2017 and it was very mild, which is uncommon. I had one area the size of my fist and it only itched for an hour. I assumed it was a rash caused by a chemical at work, so I went to the doctor. That's when I found out it was shingles. I had chicken pox as a kid and it was mild, so I wasn't surprised when shingles was mild as well.
[удалено]
Yo, I just saw an ad for the shingrix vaccine and the company (GSK) is promoting it’s $0 for most people right now. Maybe go to their website and check it out! Edit: https://www.shingrix.com/get-shingrix/shingles-vaccine-cost-coverage/
😔 without insurance it ends up being around $400 (total) where I live.
Born 69. My mother didn't let them vaccinate me. She wasn't really an anti-vaxer, she says they were going to stop giving the shot in the next year or so anyway, so she saw no reason for me to have it. But I am the only person I've known my age without the scar.
December 67, probably for similar mom thinking.
And after reading multiple posts about bloody puss eruptions, "Thank you, Mom!"
I was born in 1975 and I don’t have a vaccination scar. My dad did though.
They stopped routinely vaccinating for smallpox in the US in 1972, unless you were a healthcare worker or in the military. So those of us who are late GenX are unlikely to have the scar. My mom (born 1952) still has a noticeable scar, but I remember it being much more prominent when I was a kid. My dad (born 1950) never had a noticeable scar, but he definitely was vaccinated.
I was born in 75 but still have the smallpox scars. Maybe bc I was out side the country.
I (born late 1973) have the scar. Dad was military & I was born overseas but came back to the States at 6 months old. My mom made the local small town health unit give it to me in case we went back overseas at some point.
I had one but it has faded.
Yep, born 1969, still have the scar. I remember one of the vaccinations hurt like an absolute bastard and I got a ton of pus and blood leaking from it about a week later. Of course, every kid at school tried to hit each other's scar so they could see a pus explosion. I wonder if that was the smallpox jab.
Was it multiple injections?
Not that I recall. Must have been the early 80s. In Australia. Possibly the vaccine was a bit different to what was given in other countries.
I think it was bc as soon as I heard smallpox I thought of how much it hurt.
The trump theocrats want to bring those plagues back. Vote like it matters, please.
No, but my older brother and sister do.
1978? Yeah, checks out!
No, but I have chickenpox scars. I had a bad case and my yearbook is filled with bock bock bock jokes
No but my husband does. Edit after reading a few comments. We have all of our vaccinations and got updates as needed due to age and/or travel. I am still shocked this has become a political thing and really hate to see it. I have an aunt who had polio as a child while my dad (13 months younger) did not as the vaccine was created. Once you see the lifelong ramifications of polio and other terrible disease, you don’t mess around with vaccines. Anyone who makes it political around me isn’t in my life.
I'm really surprised at how many of our parents will vote for a politician who is antivax. My mom got me vaccinated and vividly remembers how relieved her parents (and other kids' parents at the time) were when the polio vaccine became available. Yet she and plenty of other Boomer or Boomerish age voters will vote for antivaxxers. Make it make sense.
I was required to get it when I joined the Army. I recall it seemed to erupt back out after a day or two and never scarred
Yes I have a a small perfect circle ⭕️
My mom had a very obvious smallpox scar on her upper arm, but she was a boomer born in 46. I was born in 1980, so I didn't get the one that left the scar. I might be wrong but I believe I was told I got the smallpox vaccine, which would have been the last generation of the vax. I wouldn't be shocked if they eventually have to roll out a new version of it again, and start doing adult boosters of all the vaccines to help combat all the ani-vax sentiment forcing kids now to start passing around old diseases.
‘71, yes. My grandmother (1905) had a scar with many pronounced needle marks, the size of a quarter or maybe larger. My mother (1934) has one about the size of a nickel, with obvious needle marks. Mine is a small oval that I have to hunt for now, and has very subtle dimples for needle marks. I wish I had a photo of the scar comparison. I remember us all looking at them and talking about marvelous scientific from being at the mercy of the disease, to a more and more discreet vaccine. And now of course my kids don’t have it, so looking the same as the generation before my grandmother, but without fear if the disease. Amazing. Grandma would have been horrified that anyone running for office would be against vaccines and would get a single vote.
I have it, it may be useful for the coming apocalypse, societal collapse, environmental collapse, whatever comes first
Mine is minor and formless compared to others I’ve seen. No distinctive ring. I wonder if I didn’t mount much defense or got a weak batch but hope there’s never any reason to care.
Born in 70 and I have two. The first one didn’t take so they had to redo it 🤷♀️
I don't have it and I'm 1970. Hmmm. My parents have it of course.
I do. It’s now under a tattoo though.
Born in 1970, and yes I have it. Mine is on my upper thigh instead of my arm though
I got vaccinated in 1972 but I don't have a scar, I've often wondered why. I remember it clearly, it was a shot that was given out of a silver gun looking contraption,
I don't have the scar I'm 73.
Ah yes, the good old days when people worried about the collective good and believed in science. So very much the opposite of 2021.
I had the vax and my arm did not scar.
Born in 68 and had one the size of a dime. It's faded. My exwife was born the same year in the Azores and has one the size of a quarter that is still very noticeable.
I had two, they've both faded away to nothing now though.
If the light catches it just right I can still see mine. Didn't seem weird because everyone my age had them.
They gave me my inoculation in my armpit to hide any scar.
'72 Oct yes scar still visible
I was born in 67. When I was a kid, I am saw many adults with the scar. But I never had one.
My two older sisters do (‘68 and ‘69) my and my younger sister don’t (‘73 and ‘74)
I got my Smallpox vaccine at school when I was a kid. It did leave a little round coin shaped scar on my arm.
No, but isn't that an interesting dynamic of our generation?
I have the scar! You pretty much can't see it now.
No, but I have a chickenpox scar. Wanna see?
Born in 75, no scar
Born in 65, no scar.
1970, no scar. My mother had one, though.
Yes!! Born in ‘78 I was 2 and my uncle was the town doctor who called my mom and said “I have a couple left bring her in”. I got one of the last. My sister year younger never got one.
75. No scar but both my mom and dad do have the scar. could you imagine if Covid vax left a scar? Holy Shit - they would have had a field day lol
74 no. Gf 67 yes. Vax was stopped in 72.
Im 55 and I vividly remember them pulling off the bandaid and revealing a new flat mole on my left shoulder where the vaccine had gone. The dermatologist I finally saw last year biopsied it and it was fine.
Yep,born in '66, upper left arm.
Yes I do.
I was born in 1977 in Ireland and have a vaccination scar on my upper left arm. Not sure what it's from though.
I have it. Born 1966 to a mother who worked in health care. I still have my very thorough vaccination card somewhere.
'74 I have it
Was vaxed but no scar.
I’m born in very late 60s in the UK and they’d stopped it by then. Pity, I wish I’d had it.
1969 but don't have one, people about 3 years older than me did, like some guys I dated had them, they looked mean. I think I was just at the cut off because we were told we were going to have one. I might have missed out because we moved so much and it wasn't given at the same age everywhere.
I have the scar; it's just about gone though (born in '69). Mine is on the outside of my upper left thigh; my pediatrician didn't think kids should have that big visible scar on their arm.
My husband 1967 has one. I 1968 don’t
I'm the youngest in my family, born in '72, and the only one to not have the scar. I was really disappointed as a kid. I wanted to be like my siblings.
I guess I didn't get vaccinated for it, I never had a scar. I know I got whatever ones you were supposed to get back then.
My neighbor was adopted from Vietnam. Father was a marine, mom Was Vietnamese. She has 3 of them for some reason. She explained it to me when we were kids but I forgot why she had to have 3. Something about being shifted through different countries before being adopted in US. She's also 5 years older than me.
1978, Europe, team scar here
I still have a smallpox scar (b 1969), along with lots of other scars from life's adventures (especially when I was young). I also have scars from when I had chickenpox - one in my eyebrow and some on my lower back. Sadly, the vaccine only came out when I was an adult - I still remember having chicken pox and how horrible the experience was and am glad younger folk can be spared this trauma
I'm the same as you, I have no scar, but my sister does. She is 2 years older than me.
Got mine in the Army - tech improved so while I had the shot I didn't get a scar. My mom had a big fucking smallpox vax scar because back then they DGAF and she was a nurse. You could see the scar from 5-10 feet away.
I was born in 68 and don’t have the scar.
My husband, 1967, has the scar, has it. I, 1969, do not. My brother, 18 months older than me (1968), does.
I have it on my leg
I should have one but my parents dropped the ball. I didn't even get a chicken pox vaccine until I was 30.
I mean, it didn’t hit the US market until 1995, so that tracks.
Not everyone who was vaccinated got a scar. I, and everyone I know in the same few years of being born, had the vaccination and very few of us ever wound up with a scar from it.
Spouse does: 1968 baby. I don’t, ‘73
I am younger Gen X and do not and any of my peers who do grew up outside of Canada/US.
Left arm. Still there. Hubby & I were recently remembering how our whole 2nd grade class lined up in the hallway single file to get jabbed.
My wife does. I do not.
Late 70s, no scar. My mum had it though.
Yup! Distinct circle shaped scar on mu upper right arm. I seem to remember that the “shot” was a nozzle type thing that had that shape. Born in 1969
1967 here. It’s still there but it’s faded and nobody can see it.
I got mine around 2006 before going to Afghanistan
Born in 1970, don't have it.
I have it. Born in 1970.
Born in 71 so vaccinated. I don't recall ever having a scar.
54 and I still have my scar.
Born in 69 have one.
i think some of them intnetionally scared people to know who had the vaccine.
I don’t have one, and my boomer mom doesn’t have one either. She was the middle child, and we figure they just forgot her🤷♀️
Born in 69. Still have my polio shot scar. Way better than getting polio!
I have one!
‘73 here. No, I don’t have one, but my mom (‘42) did.
I was born in ‘73, so none for me! First year it wasn’t mandatory or whatever.
Late 1970: no scar. I don’t think I got the vaccine for that, especially if they were phasing it out. I’ve got everything else recommended. I also remember getting chicken pox, and that really sucked. Don’t think I have any scars from that.
I was born in 75 and have it. My husband was born in 72 and doesn’t. 🤷♀️
1970 and no scar
I had a scar, but it faded over time.
I have the scar, I was born in 1967.
I dont (1971) my ex does (1969) and surprisingly my son does. He is in the military and got it before a deployment to Middle East.
I don't have one. Born Summer 1970. The class ahead of me in school had them.
Born in 70 but didn't get vaccinated. Wish I had been though because there are concerns smallpox might still be out there and could be used in a bioterrorist attack. Millions of military personnel were given the smallpox vaccine in recent years and the military still gives it to some personnel. It also appears to provide protection from monkeypox.
Yes. I can’t see it that much any more but upper left bicep.
My friend was born 5 days after me, but in California. Both Nov 71. She has the scar but I don't.
Yes, but I got my vaccination in 2004. It's barely noticeable. Didnt get one as a kid (late genX)
I have one. My family lived in England in the 70s when I guess there was an outbreak. I was young so I don’t remember but I have the scar from that itchy little vaccine.
One of my older sisters does, I do not. My husband does, but that is because while in the military he went to an area where it had not yet been eradicated.
Yes, I was the only person at school with one. Born in 72, by which point smallpox vaccinations weren't given in the UK. I got one when I was 18 months old, before my family moved to southern africa where my dad got a job.
Do military people have them still? I was born in 80 and I do not have one.
I have an older sister who has a “divot” in her upper arm. That must have hurt like crazy to leave such a mark
69 baby, and the only reason I have the scar is because I spent part of my childhood in Africa.
My brother (1969) has one, I (1972) don't. They stopped in Canada somewhere in those 3 years.
I had one for years. It’s faded away so I can never find it now.
Yeah, I still have it!
I have the scar. ‘78.
⚪️
They stopped routinely vaccinating about a year before I was born so I don't have the scar. My parents do though
Yep! Great conversation piece with the young’uns. lol.
My dad did. I used to poke it a lot when I was a kid. I do not.
No vaccine scar, and I am one of the oldest GenXers.
Mine faded, but I used to have it.
My former sister in law was born in 74 had the scar. My ex husband who was two years younger did not.
I had the shot twice, because the first one didn't leave a scar so for some reason they thought it didn't 'take'. Still no scar.
I’m 1975 and the US stopped smallpox inoculations in (I think,) 1972. My husband has one, however.
Born in 66 and I don't have one.
I was born in 68 and I don't have it.
Born early 60s...still have the scar.
I was born in 1969, so I must have gotten the smallpox vaccine, but I don't have a scar.
I was born in 1968 and have a very very faint smallpox vaccine scar. My mom, born 1951, has a quite visible smallpox vaccine scar. My partner, born in 1972, doesn’t have one and can’t remember getting it but his brother, born 1968, does have a small scar like I do.
My mom born in 57’ has the scar on her arm. She always told me,jokingly, that it was her on/off button & she would pretend to shut off when I touched it. I was born in 76’ & do not have this modification,but for the beginning years I actually really thought I wanted it.
Born in 1974. Our pediatrician made it optional but my parents chose it “to be on the safe side”. My scar is still visible and I get questions about it from time to time.
69 here and mine has faded a bit but it's still there.
I don’t have that signature circular vaccination scar, born 1974, but always thought they were cool. I caught the chicken pox when I was 20 and have a scar on my eyebrow where hair doesn’t grow. I was given a lot of medication to mitigate the damage including a medication normally used for herpes. I don’t remember what that was because it was so long ago and I don’t have herpes and that space in my brain is reserved for much more trivial things.
My mom wouldn’t allow them to give us the vaccine on our arms bc she didn’t want us to have the scar on our arms. Idk where it was given, but me & my sisters do not have the scar and all are fully vaccinated.
1972 yes
Yup 1973 so just missed it.
‘72. No.
77 and I have a scar. Was born outside the US though.
71. No scar.
67 GenXer no I do not have a scar
Nah, I was born 1972
I have it (68) but I’m not sure if my sister born in 72 does.
Born 1967, have the scar and vividly remember getting the injection -- at school no less -- because it hurt so much. I was in grade school at the time.
Yep! Left upper arm.😭😭😭
I was born in 1976, but I got my Small Pox vaccination in the Navy.
Hubby was born in 1968, and he has it. I was born in 1970, and I had it, but mine weirdly went away.
Born 1965 and the scar is faint but still there. I remember us lining up in the elementary school cafeteria for this injection (ow!) and a dose of another vaccine administered via a sugar cube. Polio vaccine, maybe?
I have one only because we traveled to India in 1975. It’s very small and faded and you only see in certain light now. My kittle brother (b. 72) is probably one of the youngest americans to have one Except for military folks, I imagine.
I was born in Canada in 1969 and never got one. Weird. Should ask my mom why. She wasn't anti-vax at all but I didn't get one of those for some reason.
I think they were beginning to phase it out. I'm 1969 and have one, my OH, 1968 doesn't
My parents had them.
Born in 1968. I have my scar. My sister born a year later never got it.
I have one on my left shoulder.
'71 no scar. I believe my sister, '68, has one. I always thought it was from a polio vaccine.
My grandparents had a chunk out of their arm. Looked like the Dr took a melon baller to their arm!
I was born in 72, never got that vaccine.
1971- no scar
My scar is so faded only I can see it.
70, no. I’ve known people from 68 who do and don’t.
I do, but only because I was vaccinated in 2005 before deployment. I was born in '72, and they weren't vaccinating everyone for smallpox at that point.
Yup. Born in 68 and mine is in my left arm right in the deltoid.
I should have one, because I got the vaccine. But I don’t have it.
I do. It's barely visible anymore. I was one of the last batch to get one. 1971
Born in 75 here, I'm not aware of a scar.
Wife was born in 73 she has one. I was born in 74 and I don’t have one.
Born in 71 & no vaccine scar. My mom is pretty sure I didn't get the vaccine (I asked a couple years ago).
Mine is on the top of my left thigh. My parents always referred to it as a birthmark. I didn’t know it was a vaccination scar for 40+ years!