Large-scale use of freeze-dried smallpox vaccine prepared in primary cultures of rabbit kidney cells.

A lyophilized smallpox vaccine made from infected monolayer cultures of primary rabbit kidney cells was used together with a calf lymph vaccine in a field trial in Lombok, Indonesia, in 1973. About 60 000 children below 15 years of age were vaccinated: some 50 000 with the tissue culture vaccine and about 10 000 with calf lymph vaccine. Similar results were obtained with both vaccines in primary vaccinees and in revaccinees as regards the take rate, pock reactions, and serious secondary reactions.