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BEFORE Vaccination: What You Should Know The smallpox vaccine is made from a living virus called “vaccinia.” Vaccinia virus is like smallpox virus, but less harmful. The vaccine does not contain the smallpox virus. It can not give you smallpox. The vaccine can protect people from smallpox. For most people, the smallpox vaccine works and is safe. But, people with certain health conditions are more likely to have serious reactions to the smallpox vaccine. These people should not be vaccinated and they should not be in close contact with someone who has been vaccinated. BEFORE Vaccination: What You Should Do Tell your close contact if you have any of the conditions listed below, or even if you have concerns about any of them. You should NOT be in close contact with someone who has been vaccinated if you:
Because of the risk to you (or your baby if you are pregnant), you should not be in close contact with someone who has gotten smallpox vaccine if any of these apply to you. AFTER Vaccination: What You Should Know There are things you should know if your close contact gets the smallpox vaccine (even if both you and your close contact don’t have any health problems). After vaccination, a bump will form at the place on your close contact’s skin where the vaccine was given (called the “vaccination site”). The bump will turn into a blister. It will fill with pus and start to drain. The blister will dry up and form a scab. After about 2 to 3 weeks, the scab will fall off and leave a small scar. The vaccinia virus in the vaccine (and on your close contact’s vaccination site) is a live virus. Until their scab falls off, a person who has been vaccinated can spread vaccinia virus to other people. This can cause problems such as rash (mild to severe), fever, and head and body aches in the other person. Vaccinia is spread by touching the vaccination site before the scab has fallen off, or by touching items like bandages, clothes, sheets, or towels that have touched the site. In the past, the vaccine virus was spread from vaccinated people to others about 2 to 6 times out of every 100,000 people vaccinated for the first time. This usually happened between people who lived together. AFTER Vaccination: What You Should Do Until your close contact’s scab falls off:
Page last reviewed July 30, 2004 |
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Page last modified November 15, 2003 |
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