Maybe why the FDA approved a vaccine for smallpox/monkey pox in 2021 ? [6/4/2021] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Tembexa (brincidofovir) to treat smallpox. Although the World Health Organization declared smallpox, a contagious and sometimes fatal infectious disease, eradicated in 1980, there have been longstanding concerns that the virus that causes smallpox, the variola virus, could be used as a bioweapon. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/news-events-human-drugs/fda-approves-drug-treat-smallpox