Most of us were vaccinated in the 60s and early 70s. I'm reading it lasts only 5 years. If you had it as a child it may lessen the symptoms.

Would like to see some real data on this. Monkeypox looks like something I'd rather avoid!

I've read somewhere that people who had been vaccinated even 50 years earlier were still protected.

And, of course, there aren't any/many yet.

Right now, I am at essentially zero risk for getting monkey pox.

but rather they share a common ancestor. The old smallpox vaccine is 85% effective in preventing transmission and/or reducing symptoms (or would be if said vaccinations were current, but people haven't been getting smallpox vaccines for ~4 decades).

And antivax parents have nothing to do with it.

The US stopped inoculating civilians in 1972 after smallpox became eradicated in the US. So anyone age 50 and under doesn’t have it unless they served on active duty during the years it was given post 911.

Had to get them to start school (1956), and booster right before starting high school. Last one for smallpox was 58 years ago.

designations by some states and Biden, mostly for stopping the idea that it is out of control. That seems contradictory but our brains are strange things, the emergency declarations signal that it won't be allowed to grow out of control or something and add pressure for more vaccine availability.

Monkeypox vs. smallpox

Smallpox and monkeypox are both part of the orthopoxvirus family, so they’re caused by similar but distinct viruses. Thanks to effective vaccines, smallpox was eradicated (is no longer a circulating disease) by 1980. Smallpox was very contagious and spread more easily than monkeypox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox, but milder.

Adults like yourself who received the smallpox vaccine during the nationwide program that was in effect from the late 1940s until 1972 are believed to have continuing immunity. This includes members of the U.S. military, who continued to receive smallpox vaccinations until 1991.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that, based on past data collected in Africa, the smallpox vaccine is at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. However, since this situation is so new, the precise degree of protection is not known. Researchers say that while older adults who have been vaccinated against smallpox may be susceptible to monkeypox infection, they are likely to experience only mild symptoms. The data show that the majority of healthy adults who become infected do not become severely ill. And to your question about smallpox boosters, no, they are not available. https://connect.uclahealth.org/2022/07/25/adults-with-smallpox-vaccine-may-have-immunity-from-monkeypox/