Fact Check | History shows that India did not lack access to vaccines, as Prime Minister Modi argues.

Prime Minister Friday’s speech by Narendra Modi gave a perspective on the history of vaccination in India That is inconsistent with the facts. “In India’s vaccination history, whether it’s smallpox, hepatitis B, or polio, India has to wait decades to procure vaccines abroad. I see. When the vaccination program ended in another country, it wouldn’t have started in our country, “Modi insisted in his speech.

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According to historical records, India was among the countries that produced their own vaccines, even before independence, almost a few years after the vaccine was discovered.

Although there were some challenges in the dissemination of vaccines, the availability of vaccines was the least of the problems.

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Smallpox vaccine

In the history of vaccination in India, Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya published the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) in 2012, and the smallpox vaccine was first administered to 3-year-old India in 1802. It states that it was done. Only four years after British doctor Edward Jenner published the results of an experiment in which subjects were inoculated with cowpox virus.

The smallpox vaccine was imported into India until 1850, but it was difficult to store liquid lymph. As a result, Indian laboratories researched ways to increase lymphatic supply and were successful early by 1895.

The first animal vaccine warehouse was founded in 1890 in Shillong, where production began.

In India, vaccination was not stopped once it started, but its popularity varied. There was hesitation, opposition from “variolated” tikadaars, and those who actually received the vaccine charged a small fee that contributed to fluctuations in vaccine intake.

“Vaccination rates have fallen, with India reporting the highest number of smallpox cases in the last 20 years between 1944 and 1945. Smallpox vaccination as soon as World War II ended. Has been refocused and the number of infected people has decreased, “says Dr. Lahariya.” In 1947, India was self-sufficient in the smallpox vaccine. “

Over the years, changes have also been seen in smallpox vaccines, experiments at appropriate doses, and monitoring of adverse events. Smallpox was eradicated in North America and Europe by 1953.

In 1959, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a plan to eradicate smallpox. According to a historical memo on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, this is also a difficult program, with variability in success, and only the enhanced eradication program in 1967 was seen. The virus was eradicated in South America until 1971, in Asia (and India) in 1975, and in Africa in 1977. According to Dr. Lahariya, the challenge was not the lack of access to the vaccine, but the social and economic factors surrounding vaccination.

Pioneer of polio research

The history of polio vaccination in India is more complex. “India was also a pioneer in polio research: epidemiology, vaccine prevention, and the production of both oral polio vaccines (OPVs) and injectable polio vaccines (IPVs). India’s leading position is short-sighted. Later years, due to policies and whimsical decisions, it was a stigma in the history of public health.

The inactivated polio vaccine, developed in the United States by Jonas Salk and used in the polio eradication campaign, has also been adopted in some European countries.

OPV was developed by the 1960s and has proven itself to be a good vaccine for many years. This is because it can be administered without injection, acts quickly and gives longer immunity.

The Pasteur Institute in India developed and manufactured the first unique trivalent OPV in India in 1970. It wasn’t until 2006 that Lab IPV was licensed to manufacture in India.

Over the years, OPV has been observed to reduce efficacy and cause not only the dissemination of new vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV), but also vaccine-related paralytic polio (VAPP). Until 2011, polio eradication required a combination of both types of vaccines, ongoing campaigns, a huge presence of the historic endemic virus, a population at risk, and promotion of vaccine production. It was due to inadequate attention by the government for. Again, it’s not because India couldn’t make those vaccines.

Mission Indradanus

The Prime Minister also argued that the Mission Indradhanush program has increased the proportion of children vaccinated from 60% to 90% since 2014. In the latest National Family Health Survey, which provides only data from 17 states and 5 Union Territories, no state achieved a 90% vaccination rate. The Ministry of Health released data on this in December 2020 and planned to provide data from the remaining states by May this year. Only five states, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Goa and Sikkim, exceeded 80% coverage and Himachal Pradesh reached 89%.

Mission Indradhanush aims to give a single dose of BCG vaccine to prevent tuberculosis. Three doses of DPT vaccine to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough, whooping cough and tetanus. Three doses of polio vaccine. And measles vaccine once.

A vaccine against plague-causing bacteria was created in 1897 by Waldemar Haffkine of Grant Medical College in Bombay and was first tested on its own and later on prisoners in Byculla Prison. The Plague Institute was founded in 1899 and renamed the Huffkine Institute in 1925.

Several vaccine laboratories have been established in various states in the country, including the 1948 BCG (tuberculosis) laboratory in Gindi, Madras. Prior to 1940, these institutions enabled the production of diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus vaccines in India.

Some public sector vaccine units that produced much of India’s vaccines were closed or diminished in various cases and were taken to private companies such as the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech. It has been replaced and has become a major vaccine manufacturing country and a global supplier. ..