Is Canada planning a mass immunization campaign against smallpox? If not, why not?
A single dose of smallpox vaccine, even given up to 4 days after exposure to smallpox, can prevent serious illness and death from smallpox. For this reason, and because the smallpox vaccine itself can cause severe illness and even death following immunization, mass immunization campaigns against smallpox are not recommended. A small supply of the vaccine is available in Canada, and would be used to contain and prevent illness around a detected case of smallpox if a case were to occur. Globally, supplies of smallpox vaccine are either currently available, or would be made available, to prevent smallpox disease in any area of the world.
