BA16 (SYD-SIN-LHR) monkeypox outbreak
#16
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: GGL
Posts: 489
In the case of the modern smallpox vaccine 150 years, but point taken. They both have serious side effects in the 1-2% range though, so the agent would need to be fairly virulent to justify use. Smallpox for example.
#17
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 460
I was not given the smallpox vaccine as a child in the UK. This was the early 60s when it was already being phased out.
The same for my husband who went on to have it later as a pre req to travelling to the US at the time. There will be a large unvaccinated population now if those data points are anything to go on.
As pointed out above it’s not really known yet whether a childhood vaccine offers protection decades later.
Given that monkey pox is quite a mild disease I look forward to the hysteria that we are about to see. Sigh …
The same for my husband who went on to have it later as a pre req to travelling to the US at the time. There will be a large unvaccinated population now if those data points are anything to go on.
As pointed out above it’s not really known yet whether a childhood vaccine offers protection decades later.
Given that monkey pox is quite a mild disease I look forward to the hysteria that we are about to see. Sigh …
#18
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Which days SYD-SIN would they have worked if the SIN-LHR on 21st was the one impacted?
(I was on the 19th SYD-SIN-LHR so hoping the answer is 20th…)
(I was on the 19th SYD-SIN-LHR so hoping the answer is 20th…)
#19
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In England and Wales the last cohort to get a Smallpox vaccine was in the 1971-1972 academic year. It was administered pre-school, but school nurses checked admissions against that timeframe and after those routine imms on infants had stopped, school nurses would have swept up missed cases until about 1977. Children coming in from overseas still got it until 1978-79. Pretty much all people 52 and over would have had smallpox vaccine, and half those aged over 51 and under 52.
#21
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There were outbreaks in the mid 1960s in working class areas that weren't properly covered by post-natal jabs.Also there was one outbreak at a public school with kids from the last remnants of the Empire. If you were born before (ahem) 1968 it would have been very difficult not to get the jab due to the kerfuffle these events caused. Normally you would have got it with all the infant jabs, and I suspect your mother's recollection was simply hazy. Did you not get the diphtheria jab for example? Some communities did miss out, notably Romany kids and the Windrush generation.
#22
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,578
They probably did operate your SYD-SIN sector. Unless you were in direct bodily contact with their rash, or enjoying a snog (or more) with the crew member in question, I would say your chances are pretty good for not contracting it.
Last edited by 1Aturnleft; Jun 22, 2022 at 2:06 am
#23
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 460
Yes I had all recommended childhood jabs. The GP told my parents that smallpox vaccine was now no longer essential and they could make the choice. Same for my husband of the same vintage. I’m absolutely sure of these facts and nor was my GP particularly surprised later that I didn’t have it and there was no mopping up exercise where we lived. I can say with certainty that I was not unusual in my school cohort either.
#24
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There was an outbreak in Bradford in 1962 which stemmed from someone bringing the virus into a hospital from overseas. There was also an outbreak in the Glasgow tenements a few weeks later though that was probably unrelated. This caused a renewed focus on vaccinations in that period. It wouldn't normally have been GPs doing these jabs, it was usually arranged by nurses connected from hospitals via midwifery, so done by Secondary not Primary Care. When we look at T-cell responses in people aged 55 plus today there is significant evidence of smallpox vaccination. Most of those who have been caught the virus recently are under 50, there are a few exceptions, and the older Smallpox vaccines aren't totally effective on the current epidemic.
#26
Join Date: Apr 2000
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Yes I had all recommended childhood jabs. The GP told my parents that smallpox vaccine was now no longer essential and they could make the choice. Same for my husband of the same vintage. I’m absolutely sure of these facts and nor was my GP particularly surprised later that I didn’t have it and there was no mopping up exercise where we lived. I can say with certainty that I was not unusual in my school cohort either.
#27
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: GGL
Posts: 489
I assume you have checked your left arm?
#29
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The United Kingdom Vaccination Act 1853, which made smallpox vaccination compulsory, was only repealed on 1 August 1971, and in1969 over half a million Snallpox vaccines were administered. It was quite a big thing at the time, since it was considered a huge success by the agencies of public health. Did some children slip through the net? Yes, we know they did. Did many? From the data only a small percentage.
#30
Join Date: Jan 2014
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