Scars from injections...

I have been curious about this for the longest time....

Everyone in the UK has a scar on their arm from a vaccine. My ex-bf from India had it as well. Why don't Americans have it? Do we not get the same vaccinations?

This has been driving me crazy off and on...when I think about it! LOL

It's a scar from the smallpox vaccine. The US stopped vaccinating for this in 1972. I'm not sure when the UK stopped, or if they even have stopped.

Edited to add: Your ex-BF from India has one because while most of the world was said to be free of smallpox, India was one of the places where there were still occasional cases.

Just agreeing with Bmore...smallpox.

Most of our American parents will also have this (I know mine do) and also a lot of US military members will have this (they still give smallpox vaccines to military members when they are deployed to certain locations).

Aahhh.. Thanks!

My husband thought it was from something else. I can't remember what he thought it was, but it was something that Americans get as well so I was confused.

Mystery solved!!!

I  have one. I was born in 1965.

My parents & brothers have them (my brothers were born in 1961 & 1963 in the US).

I was born in the US in 1974 and I don't have one. My husband doesn't have one either he was born in the UK in 1969.

Weird... my husband was born in the UK in 1980 and he has one!

I was born in 1983 (in England), but I don't have one and I don't think I know anyone around my age who has one either... I think they stopped the vaccinations sometime around the early '80s.

I was born in '63 in the UK but my vaccine scar is on my ankle. I prefer that to the arm scar as it's less visible. I think most doctors did it on the arm, though. DH was born in '68 in the UK and his is on his arm.

My boyfriend insists that it's the tuberculosis vaccine he got in school when was about 11 (in the early 80s).

My boyfriend insists that it's the tuberculosis vaccine he got in school when was about 11 (in the early 80s).

Ah, I think that's what my husband said/thought his was from! I'll have to ask him when he gets home.

My boyfriend insists that it's the tuberculosis vaccine he got in school when was about 11 (in the early 80s).

Yes, the TB vaccine also causes a scar.  The US never innoculated against TB, except for children in hgh risk households, because infection risk was considered to be to low. 

Yes, the scar is 100% from the BCG vaccine given to protect against Tuberculosis I think they give it to babies now but I had mine when I was 14. Definitely not from smallpox, i dont think they vaccinate against that over here anymore!

I grew up here and there was no standard smallpox vaccination in the 60s/70s/80s, although people may have had  it done for travel reasons. It's the BCG/TB scar you are probably seeing. I had one when I was about 13 which actually faded a lot but I had another about 8 years ago which is a whacking great thing.

Actually I would agree that in Brits you're seeing the TB jab (my hubby's is very tiny and you really have to look hard up close to see it...you'd never notice it just walking past him).  If they are American, I'd say it's the smallpox scar (my mom's scar is a huge crator in her arm that you can see from 20 feet away).  I googled what the scars look like and they seem to be pretty similar (of course every individual will have different reactions and scars regardless).

Polio also leaves a scar but that wouldn't affect many people since they came up with an oral vaccine shortly after the jab came out.