Has smallpox really disappeared from The International
Vaccination Newsletter, Dec 1997 In 1982, the WHO advised a
global vaccination moratorium against the smallpox vaccination
because, they said, the disease appeared to have vanished from
the earth. For another thing, the side-effects had become too
obvious to maintain the traditional guidelines in favour of mass
vaccination. There are many questions about the role of the
vaccine in the decline of the disease, a point which may be
clarified in a later issue of IVN. However, it is questionable
whether smallpox really was eradicated as we have been told.
Some publications stated that the last smallpox virus had
disappeared from this globe. But had it really? Certainly not,
since viruses were stored and even used in later experiments as
carrier molecules for an experimental AIDS vaccine. Some of the
volunteers engaged by the Pasteur Institute died during the
experiment from a smallpox-like illness (1). The institute
managed to keep the information out of the f