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The vaccine for smallpox as we know it doesn't require the virus itself. Biopreparat had an extensive genetic engineering program and may or may not have successfully weaponized an ebola/smallpox chimera (there's a disturbing amount of bragging surrounding the Soviet biowar program these days). FWIW, I have it on good authority that Rihab Taha was basically one good lab assistant away from creating airborne rabies. If you need to experiment and derive vaccines against an organism, your best results will come from the actual organism, rather than a convenient model of that organism.