How would this government deal with an outbreak of smallpox?

[longwayoff]

The smallpox virus now exists only in a laboratory. There is no herd immunity to it. It's very dangerous and would have, my estimate, a 70% fatality rate. It's highly infectious. There is an effective vaccination against it so this won't arise but AIBU to think that, in the absence of a vaccine, it wouldn't be
appropriate for the government to say 'don't worry we'll just let it level out and see what happens'.

That’s completely different.

I wouldn’t worry about a pandemic of an eradicated disease which had an effective vaccine.

I don't know, but is there a need for yet another hysterical apocalyptic theoretical thread?

Have a look at Exercise Dark Winter run by WHO.

This sort of thing is done on a tabletop exercise by emergency services and government agencies on a regular basis.

I was vaccinated against smallpox when I was 2, not sure if you have lifelong immunity but that is actually one that wouldn't bother me on a purely personal level!

If we rabies were rife in this country it would bother me!

YABVU HTH

Are you a medical scientist? Wondering where you got the 70% from?

Fairly sure small pox vaccination was still around when I was a tot. It was measles, mumps, rubella you didn't get back then so of course everyone had to go through being ill. Strangely, girls got Rubella vaccination at 12 by which time most had had the illness anyway - why they waited till 12 I don't know.

So, if small pox got out of the lab, the older generation would be the safe ones, unusually - and farmers because I believe it's cow pox that's used in the vaccine.

They would use 'herd immunity' - to 'protect the vulnerable' aka doing nothing - probably.

There was a drama series that looked at this scenario years ago. It would likely be an act of biological warfare for it to be spread which is not what we are looking at here.

This speculation at this point makes as much sense as planning for a zombie invasion.

www.bbc.co.uk/drama/smallpox2002/

Smallpox has very visible, distinct symptoms and is only infectious after these appear. The method for producing a vaccine is well established. There's really no basis for comparing the two.

I would expect the government to take advice from experts and make a plan based on that, which is what they have done. Do people really think Boris is making all this up???

The mortality rate for variola minor is approx 1% and for the more common variola major approx 30%. Rubbish statistics for variola major but nowhere near 70%. Plus we have a vaccine. We might as well start worrying about an airborne version of Ebola Zaire which has approx 90% mortality rate.

Where did you get a fatality rate of 70% from?!

Is there not enough panic about corona? Why bring smallpox into the mix?

Your mortality rates are incorrect.
Variola minor 1%
Variola Major 35%

It’s a hugely different scenario and no correlation at all. Vaccines are available already. The disease is eradicated outside of hypersecure research facilities.

@TheMemoryLingers Strangely, girls got Rubella vaccination at 12 by which time most had had the illness anyway - why they waited till 12 I don't know.

because the virus is most deadly to very young children, and if a pregnant woman gets it, the consequences for the unborn child are awful, so vaccinating girls just before the earliest they could possibly start getting pregnant is the best way to protect babies. much better to re-immunise a girl who might be immune already than to have a teen pregnancy with added complication of maternal rubella. checking if rubella vaccination status is current is still part of a general checkup for women who are hoping to conceive.

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude I've been telling everyone about this but could never find it! I wonder if it's on YouTube?

I actually started watching it a few minutes into it when it was first on and actually panicked at first thinking it was real 😂

Comparing apples and oranges 🙄 small pox has a vaccine. The scary suit about covid 19!is no vaccine and no real treatment and just hope your immune system does it’s job.

VadenuRewetje But isn't it given now to very young children - I thought they had MMR when they were small.

There's a couple of episodes of 'The Indian Doctor' based on a small pox out break in the 1950s.

Those of us with the scar on out upper arms are no longer immune, but we are part of history, that scar is an artifact.

I wasn't immunised against smallpox as by the time I was of an age my mum said the vaccine killed more than the disease itself.

(She wasn't an early anti-vaxxer though as my brother and I were the first children in our county to have the measles vaccine as her sister had died of it.)

my estimate, a mortality rate of 70%

Wow, who knew the Chief Epidemiologist of the WHO posted on mumsnet.

We are not worthy.

There is a vaccine for small pox