variola major became increasingly rare in the united states. but varioinor hunger around the country for another 45 years. the last u.s. case of smallpox was reported from kansas in 1949. it wasn't until 1972 that vaccinations for smallpox were discontinued in the united states. what happened was that hadn't been a case in what, more than a quarter-century, and yet every year from the vaccine there would be seven or eight deaths. so there was no longer the same kind of cost-benefit equation in public health terms that there had been when smallpox was around. smallpox was eradicated globally through an amazing international effort, and declared dead by the world health organization in 1980. smallpox may be dead, but the vaccination question most certainly lives on. in fact, it has returned with a vengeance. one major reason for this to be certain is the bottomless archive of information and misinformation available on the internet. but there are other reasons. in particular, there are many more vaccines today that existed in 1900. the cdc's vacc