>From time.com : "First, the good news: There is no reason to believe anyone has any plans to introduce smallpox into the United States. Now, the not-so-good news: There is no guarantee someone won't use smallpox against us as a biological weapon. "Given the not-so-good news, the U.S. government has decided now might be a good time to look into vaccinating the entire nation against smallpox - a disease that was officially eradicated in 1977. It's no small task: Health officials estimate we now have about 15 million doses of the vaccine, and there are plans afoot to purchase another 300 million. The government could also dilute existing doses just enough to inoculate everyone - without, we can only assume, compromising the immunizing threshold of the vaccine. The vaccine, drawn from active smallpox cultures, can also slow or stop the advance of the disease if administered during the first four days after exposure to the virus. "It would be an emergency vaccination plan, designed to pick up where the government left off in 1972, when routine smallpox vaccinations fell out of favor. (Experts can't determine the level of immunity among those vaccinated before 1972, so pretty much everyone would have to be immunized again.) "
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,180313,00.html
