Does anyone here remember the smallpox or TB vaccine

[najaB]

As I’m 26 I was born after such vaccines were routinely given to the general population but from what I hear they were pretty horrific vaccines that left permanent scars (although not near as bad as the diseases they prevent)

I got a TB jab but I don't think I got vaccinated against smallpox - though I'm just old enough to have received it as a baby.

 

[Bayum]

I can just about remember the TB vaccine being routinely offered when I was at secondary. Fallen out of favour over the last few years with the vast majority of vaccinations given to those in high risk categories for catching and spreading TB - those emigrating/migrating to Middle East, refugees from war torn countries etc.

 

[GusB]

I have a very clearly defined scar on my upper arm from the TB jab, about the size of a 5p. It hurt being done, then blistered and weeped for ages. So much for it "not leaving a mark" as the nurse tried to claim. Better than getting TB I suppose.

My recollection is similar. The injection site took a very long time to heal over.

Well I don't know about you lot, but after we'd the BCG vaccination there was a three week or so period where it was "fun" to punch people on the site of the jab. I still have the scar and I managed to break my arm over the site of the original heaf test so I had to have the jab the next year. Lucky me that next to noone else had the jab at the same time in my year. That was a fun few weeks avoiding the punches...

I'd quite forgotten about the punches until now! There were a few obnoxious individuals who would insist on trying to give you a "dead arm". Once during exam time, my class was displaced to one of the chemistry classrooms. I noticed that someone had left the switch on on one of the power outlets, and (as I still do today) I switched it to off and was yelled at by the teacher whose classroom it was for interfering with her electricity. It was her that provided the punches that day!

They were both given on the left arm (right arm if the person was left-handed), with the heaf test being somewhere near the wrist as I recall, and the actual vaccination on the upper arm. The heaf test didn't leave any trace; the actual vaccination did leave a small circular scar.

I'm left-handed and I wasn't given a choice. I feel that my rights have been infringed and I demand an inquiry

 

[Butts]

I was vaccinated against TB in my second year in secondary school. I definitely recall the "skin test" on my lower arm which had the little needles in a circle, and it was relatively painless because it was over in a split second. The actual BCG vaccination was a rather more painful affair and I recall it taking quite a while to do. I've still got a small mark on my upper arm, but it's barely noticeable.

We had a tetanus shot in fourth year and in comparison it was far less unpleasant.

I hadn't realised that they weren't routinely carried out in schools any more.

Ah the "six needles" as they used to call the first bit.

My injection was in my shoulder.

Did anyone not have to have the jab after the first bit, I can't remember.

 

[GusB]

Ah the "six needles" as they used to call the first bit.

My injection was in my shoulder.

Did anyone not have to have the jab after the first bit, I can't remember.

It's so long ago that I really don't recall. I can't remember anyone in my class already having immunity and having to miss out on the jab. I suppose that was a good thing, really.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Ah the "six needles" as they used to call the first bit.

My injection was in my shoulder.

Did anyone not have to have the jab after the first bit, I can't remember.

I think it was fairly rare but I didn't need it much to my relief.

 

[jfollows]

What interested me, so I did a bit of reading, was that my BCG injection was with a "jet injector". It turns out that, even in the mid-1970s when I had it, these weren't new technology, and I found a 1970 paper discussing their use (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2427792/pdf/bullwho00209-0064.pdf).

The conclusion of this particular report is that the calibration of the dose is less accurate than vaccination by syringe and that "the risk of unpleasant reactions is ... increased".

So I guess I was lucky in that I found the injection completely painless and had no after-effects.

 

[route101]

Is there any jabs at schools now?

 

[Bletchleyite]

What interested me, so I did a bit of reading, was that my BCG injection was with a "jet injector". It turns out that, even in the mid-1970s when I had it, these weren't new technology, and I found a 1970 paper discussing their use (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2427792/pdf/bullwho00209-0064.pdf).

The conclusion of this particular report is that the calibration of the dose is less accurate than vaccination by syringe and that "the risk of unpleasant reactions is ... increased".

So I guess I was lucky in that I found the injection completely painless and had no after-effects.

Interesting. Mine was definitely a big needle (and very big it was too! )

 

[Mojo]

At our school we pretended it hurt loads and we were all feeling faint and nauseous to try and get sent home early.

It didn't work. Even though I actually did feel like ****e after it

I was vaccinated against TB in my second year in secondary school. I definitely recall the "skin test" on my lower arm which had the little needles in a circle, and it was relatively painless because it was over in a split second. The actual BCG vaccination was a rather more painful affair and I recall it taking quite a while to do. I've still got a small mark on my upper arm, but it's barely noticeable.

I remember the number of people who fainted or were otherwise taken ill during the process of vaccinations at school. It never particularly struck me as a good idea to do vaccinations at school because of this and I recall getting my mum to write a letter to the school and advising them that I would not be submitting myself for the vaccination due to health reasons and would have it done at the doctor in private. Still to this day I’ve no idea what the injection I missed was for as I never had it done in private in the end!

Ah the "six needles" as they used to call the first bit.

My injection was in my shoulder.

Did anyone not have to have the jab after the first bit, I can't remember.

The skin test was one of many that caused me to be taken ill at school. Fortunately when we came for the actual injection they said I didn’t have to have it. Did this mean I was naturally immune to TB or something?

 

[najaB]

Did this mean I was naturally immune to TB or something?

Sounds that way, yes.

 

[prod_pep]

My year at school received our BGC vaccine early 2005 if memory serves, so it was still being administered as late as then. I'm fairly sure it stopped soon afterwards.

The actual injection wasn't particularly painful (blood tests are far worse) but it hurt for a good while afterwards. The scar is still fairly noticeable on my upper arm. I had a major fear of needles in childhood and was fairly terrified of the BGC jab, but it stopped being a problem after that one.

The 6-pronged test was almost completely painless.

 

[matacaster]

I remember getting the BCG vaccination at school when I was 13 in the 1980s, the site was sore for a couple of weeks after but I was happy to accept this as a small price to avoid getting TB! I never received the smallpox vaccination though.

I had the tuberculosis test at school. The 8 or so needle points left went red after around an hour, after 3 hours they had gone. I never had the vaccination as I was declared immune!

 

[Bletchleyite]

The skin test was one of many that caused me to be taken ill at school. Fortunately when we came for the actual injection they said I didn’t have to have it. Did this mean I was naturally immune to TB or something?

Sounds that way, yes.

Apparently it determined if you'd been exposed to TB before, which I guess must have given some natural immunity:

Heaf test - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mojo]

Apparently it determined if you'd been exposed to TB before, which I guess must have given some natural immunity:

Heaf test - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I seem to remember out of my year group (5 forms) it was only me and one or two others that weren’t injected.

 

[Barn]

My son had the TB (BCG) vaccine as recently as 2016 as we lived in a 'high risk' area (Greenwich). It did leave a scar, as it did for my wife and I when we had ours 25 years ago.

 

[J-P_L]

I can’t remember in what year group they used to administer it, but I left school in 2009 and we were the first year group at the school not to receive the BCG vaccine

 

[Vespa]

I believe some countries still continue to vaccinate their military against smallpox and the smallpox vaccine is effective against some other viruses so continues to be in use (albeit only in special circumstances)

The main reason for vacinnation is that Smallpox virus samples are still kept in labs in Moscow and Atlanta, as long as they are present they can still be weaponised.
They keep talking about destroying it but it kept being postponed.

Britain used to keep smallpox until it escaped the laboratory in Birmingham in 1978 causing a massive panic, my mum got me vaccinated as well as the full spectrum including polio and TB.