The smallpox vaccine is obsolete because its use has effectively eradicated the disease. Universal smallpox vaccination was abandoned in the United States in 1971 and was declared unnecessary anywhere in the world in 1982.
Smallpox vaccine is indicated only for laboratory personnel working with orthopoxviruses.
With the marked restriction of smallpox vaccination, both vaccinia immune globulin and methisazone, which had been widely used to treat complications of vaccinia, are now rarely necessary.