Why does smallpox vaccine need to be given via the percutaneous route?

February 19, 2009 8:45 AM

Why does smallpox vaccine need to be given via the percutaneous route?
posted by feathermeat to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

The smallpox vaccine is a dose of live vaccinia virus. Administering it percutaneously allows the body to have an immune response without general infection. This is also why people who receive the vaccine (mainly military, in the US anyway) have to be very careful around children and others with compromised immune systems until their lesions heal.

More here, from the CDC.
posted by charmcityblues at 9:08 AM on February 19, 2009

Sort of an aside, if you're interested in the smallpox vaccine, The Speckled Monster provides an excellent history of the creation of the vaccine.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:44 AM on February 19, 2009