I'm assuming when the Washington post reported there was a "possibility" they believed it.

There is also a possibility that I will win the Lottery Saturday. That doesn't mean I'm spending my millions yet. When I get to 4 numebrs in a row, then I'll get excited :)

Quote from an article about 1 month ago in USAToday:
"For every million immunized, one or two people will die from the vaccine, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday. About half of those vaccinated for the first time suffer muscle aches or fever. Serious side effects were rare during mass vaccinations in the '60s, he said, and complications in people being revacci- nated were even rarer. It's estimated that 64% of today's workforce probably was vaccinated before 1972, when routine smallpox vaccination ceased.

But it's a different world today. Ronald Atlas, president of the microbiology society, said 20% to 25% of those who suffered reactions were people who had not been vaccinated, but caught the vaccine virus from recently immunized people. Today, with so many more cancer patients, people with HIV/AIDS and others with weakened immune systems, the number of serious side effects could be "much higher, by orders of magnitude.""

So we're talking about the deaths of hundreds, maybe even thousands. Anyone who has some types of thyroid diseases, diabetes, MS or other common illnesses are at higher risk. And vaccines are being implicated in many conditions that don't appear right away (like autism and immune disorders). Additionally, the brain infection that kills most people that die of the small pox vaccine can be debilitating.

The vaccination itself is a "live" vaccine, and can cause the spread of the smallpox virus. Not a problem in a control condition. But a mass innoculation would have people lined up to get jabbed. (I've been through one -- a measles epidemic. 30,000 people on campus vaccinated in 2 days. Nasty experience, and we all caught everyone else's colds.)

A mass innoculation would without a doubt reintroduce the disease to the world, causing the deaths of thousands more worldwide.

We stopped vaccinating for small pox because it was a very risky vaccine compared to the others, and the chances of catching it had dropped very low. Without a clear indication that we are at a substantial risk, it seems like the vaccine is the greater danger.