Sharyl Attkisson on smallpox vaccine program

"One of my first assignments after 9-11, the government wanted to restart its smallpox vaccine program under the thought that maybe terrorists would now use smallpox as a biological weapon. So I just approached like any other story and began to develop sources that would be very valuable decades later in understanding vaccines and medicine and the internal mechanisms.
But I came to understand that vaccines have side effects. I mean, like a lot of people, I think it never occurred to me as silly as it sounds now in retrospect, never questioned them, but doctors were openly talking and public health officials at the time about this is a careful calculus with smallpox vaccine because there are so many side effects.
It's more problematic than other vaccines, by the way, in terms of side effects. They ultimately stopped the smallpox vaccine restart because of a handful of deaths, which imply many more, I also learned, you know, a handful of deaths could mean that there are 10,000 to 100,000 more not reported. That's why they care so much about what seems like a small number. But I learned, again, the mechanisms. People were dying of the smallpox vaccine, myocarditis, or getting myocarditis, blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, all these things that sound familiar today. Especially from COVID, right? Almost the very identical side effects. Certain things can happen to your system when challenged with. I guess the immune challenge and the ingredients of these vaccines."