The person administering the vaccine made multiple punctures in the skin (rather than just the one you usually get with today’s vaccines) to deliver the vaccine to the skin’s dermis (the layer below the epidermis).
The virus within the vaccine then got to work, multiplying and causing round bumps to develop. The bumps then developed into vesicles (small, fluid-filled blisters), which would then burst and scab over in time.
Are you old enough to have a scar from the smallpox vaccine? Let us know in the comments!
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