Vaccine Nation - How Immunization Shaped India

When Edward Jenner pricked a young boy’s arm in 1796 to inoculate him against smallpox, he ignited a revolution. Vaccination would go on to transform human health, enabling the eradication and prevention of deadly diseases and saving countless lives. This began to change in 1893, when Soviet-born scientist Waldemar Haffkine arrived in Calcutta to combat endemic cholera. His pioneering efforts laid the groundwork for India’s first vaccines and vaccine laboratories and inspired a generation of scientists like Sahib Singh Sokhey and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, who, after Independence, transformed vaccination into a national mission of self-reliance.