This book charts India’s vaccine journey from colonial testing ground to global manufacturer

In June 1897, Poona city (currently Pune) was rocked by a double murder, a gruesome killing of two high-ranking British officers. The head of the Special Plague Committee, WC Rand, who was also an officer in the Indian Civil Services, and his military escort Lt Ayerst (no second name) were shot dead as they were returning from the diamond jubilee celebrations of the coronation of Queen Victoria.

The events that culminated in the June 1897 assassination had begun months earlier. In February 1897, the Plague epidemic was spiralling out of control in Poona, with one of the highest mortality rates. Panic ensued, causing half the city’s population to flee. In response, a Special Plague Committee was hastily formed, chaired by Rand who enlisted European troops to combat the outbreak. The Government of India, on its part, passed the Epidemic Diseases Bill for “better prevention of the spread of dangerous epidemic diseases.” The Epidemic Diseases Act (EDA) continues to hold sway till date and a wholesale revision was only attempted in 2022 after the Covid-19 epidemic.

The measures adopted by the British, however, were draconian and invasive. The committee forcefully entered people’s homes, sometimes in the dead of night, to take the infected...

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