Comment Re:The problem is... (Score 1) 190
The point that I was trying to make is that comparing smallpox to a gun, or even a nuclear weapon, isn't accurate. Using smallpox as a weapon is MAD even if you're the only one using it.
I understood your point. I was making a different one.
Repeat: you don't want to be the only sane person in a room full of nutjobs with insane weapons. That would also be insane.
Having live samples available is also not needed or useful for producing the vaccine.
I disagree completely. You can't test immunity if you don't have something to be immune against. Generally speaking, dead-virus vaccines tend to be less effective than live-virus vaccines, and you can't create more dead virus unless you have live virus to make it from.
Research doesn't take place in a vacuum. But before you jump on me, understand that I am fully aware that the "safe and secure" facilities used for this kind of research have had containment breaches in recent years.
If you want a real example of insanity, read up on the containment breach a couple of years ago involving H5N1 flu virus that they were trying to make MORE virulent and contagious.