Last I heard, there was nowhere near enough vaccine for the US, but they were hoping they could dilute the dosage and were going to test that out. I guess they finished short-term tests; long term protection can't be tested yet. I wonder how long it takes smallpox to decay out of the environment? I diluted dosage would almost certainly be safer.

I disagree about the better safe than sorry comment though. We know with absolute certainty that a significant number of people will die from the vaccination itself. Vaccinations *aren't* safe, but most of the stuff we vaccinate for has a higher probability of death if you contract it. It's a calculated risk.

Without a credible threat of a small pox epidemic, a mass vaccination program is comdemning people to die for something it's extremely unlikely they'd get. Nor is smallpox necessarily deadly; the mortality rate used to be high in it's hey-day, but treatment is far better now.

I personally need a better reason to roll up my sleeve than a rumor. It seems more likely at this point one of the bio labs around town would accidentally release some. If we knew, for example, that Al Qaida was trying to smuggle some into the country... well, that's be a different story.