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“The politics of pandemics revolves around showcasing your success. Of lives saved. Of places doing worse than you. Of your timely actions.."- “The Age of Pandemics (1817-1920): How They Shaped India and the World''.
Since the dawn of human civilization, humans have witnessed nature's dark side of the story through the epidemics of diseases that held the power to devastate human societies and leave traumatizing effects, often lasting for centuries, eventually changing the course of human history. Epidemics as we speak of, whether the Black Death plague or the recent coronavirus pandemic have altered socioeconomic, political, cultural, and religious aspects of societies in general. However, epidemics or pandemics have helped shape some of the basics of modern medicine, which includes creating frameworks for the study of epidemiology, disease prevention, and vaccination. In the context of the ongoing coronavirus vaccine drive's potential success, let's take a look at the few vaccine success stories in India.
Polio Vaccine: On 27 March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared India a polio-free country, an admirable success that was once thought to be impossible to achieve. Looking back at the history of Polio (or poliomyelitis), it is an acute-infectious disease caused by poliovirus that can spread from person to person through the fecal-oral route which can cause lifelong paralysis and it can also be fatal. The disease had devastating effects especially amongst children in India as well as all over the world but the discovery of the polio vaccine by Jonas Salk in 1955 marked the greatest milestone achieved by humanity. On 2nd October 1994, India accounted for around 60% of the global polio cases which called for The Pulse Polio Immunization Programme nationwide. One major concern faced by India in eradicating polio was its dense population and its poor sanitation infrastructure and diarrheal disease prevalence. However, global eradication efforts and a commitment from within the country itself made this, once unattainable goal, successful in officially eliminating polio from India.
Smallpox Vaccine: Smallpox became the only infectious disease of humans, to be eradicated through an effective vaccine in 1798 when Edward Jenner showed the protective effect of materials acquired from cowpox lesions in dealing with Smallpox. It is an acute contagious viral disease, with fever and pustules that usually leave permanent scars. Historical data suggests that it originated from India or Egypt over 3,000 years ago and was often accounted as "The Indian Plague" during those days. Smallpox affected all races and all regions of the world leaving behind ruinous adversities in its wake, primarily affecting infants and children. However, after the discovery of the vaccine by Edward Jenner in 1798, the vaccination spread to many parts of the world including India in 1802 and it was widely brought into action immediately.
The first dose of the smallpox vaccine arrived in Bombay, India, and was administered to Anna Dusthall, a 3-year-old child after which it was further distributed to other parts of the country with popularization measures taken by the Indian Medical Services for the smallpox vaccine. However, a lot of challenges were faced in the process due to several reasons including the need to pay a small fee for vaccination, belief in the practice of inoculation and that the disease was the wrath of the goddess, and many other misconceptions. The Compulsory Vaccination Act was passed in India in 1892 to ensure higher coverage of smallpox and reduce the epidemic. After a long battle with the disease, in 1975 the last case of smallpox was reported and in 1977, India was declared free from smallpox by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Such hopeful instances from history provide us with newfound hope in rewriting the future success story of the coronavirus vaccine and together achieving a yet admirable milestone in humanity.
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