[vikramkr]

One thing to point out is that, as the wikipedia article makes clear, variolation refers explicitly to inoculation with smallpox. What he is proposing is literally just a really mediocre vaccine. Instead of killing or weakening the virus, or expressing subunits to build immunity against, hes suggesting just vaccinating with the normal live virus. And by exposing to a very low dose, it might not even be enough to trigger a strong enough immune response to generate long term memory against the virus, since we're already seeing people with little or no antibody response after getting sick. So of course wed need a rigorous, well run trial to evaluate this, at which point what's the advantage compared to a well made vaccine again? You don't get to have lower standards for your vaccination approach because you call it something else incorrectly.