For centuries, humans have been constantly in search of protecting themselves against deadly diseases. From experiments and taking a global vaccine call-out in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, immunization has a long history. Vaccines have saved more human lives than any other medical invention in history. Therefore India celebrates 16th March as National vaccination day or National immunization Day acknowledging and highlighting the role played by vaccines in today’s world and marking the first dose of oral polio vaccine given back in 1995. It began with the remarkable initiative program of the Government of India’s Pulse Polio Program, aiming to eradicate polio from India. Under the program, two drops of Polio vaccine were given to children from the age of 0 to 5 years. The success of the program can be mapped from the announcement made by the World Health Organization in 2014, declaring India as a ‘Polio free country’. The theme for this year, National Vaccination Day 2022 has been selected as “Vaccines Work for all”. This underlines how vaccines work for all and save lives all around the world.
Scroll down to take a journey through the last millennium to understand how these extraordinary discoveries and achievements have brought changes to our lives beginning with the development in European nations and now India as the world’s largest exporter of vaccines to the world.
The 1400s-1800s
From the early 15th century, as a measure to prevent people from harmful diseases, people around the world intentionally exposed themselves to smallpox- a practice is known as la variole. These practices can be traced back to as early as 200 BCE. The written accounts of China described a form of variolation known as insufflation, where smallpox scabs are dried, ground and blown into the nostril using a pipe!
The major breakthrough from these ancient practices came in 1774 when Benjamin Jesty tested his hypothesis, that infection with cowpox- a bovine virus that can spread to humans and protect them from smallpox.
In May 1796, English physician Edward Jenner expanded on this discovery and inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps and another experiment two months later in July. Phipps remained in perfect health and became the first human to be vaccinated against smallpox. The term vaccine is later coined from the Latin word for cow, Vacca.
In 1872, Louis Pasteur created the first laboratory-produced vaccine: the vaccine for fowl cholera in chickens.
The 1960s to the Present
In 1967, the WHO announced the intensified smallpox eradication programme. Here eradication refers to the permanent reduction to zero of a specific pathogen, as a result of deliberative efforts, with no more risk of reintroduction.
In 1974, the expanded program on immunization (EPI) was established by WHO to develop immunization programmes throughout the world. The first diseases targeted were Diphtheria, Measles, Polio, Tetanus, Tuberculosis and Whooping cough.
On 30 January 2020, the general director of WHO declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus 2019 to be a public health emergency of international concern. On 11 March, WHO confirmed that Covid-19 is a pandemic. Effective Covid vaccines were developed, produced and distributed with unprecedented speed, some using mRNA technology. In December 2020, just one year after the first case of Covid-19 was detected, the first Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered.
The vaccination for Covid-19 in India is the world’s largest free vaccination programme with more than 180 crores of vaccines being given to date for persons from the age of 15 and above. And on the occasion of National Vaccination Day, the vaccination drive is extended to children of age 12 to 14 years.
