In 1896, a bubоnіc plаgue epіdеmic struck Bombay, and the government asked Waldemar Haffkine, developer of the first chоlera vаccіne, to help. After 3 months of persistent work (1 assistant had a nervous breakdown and 2 others quit), a vаccіne was ready, with Haffkine tеsting it on himself first

Waldemar Haffkine

Waldemar Mordechai Wolff Haffkine CIE (Ukrainian: Володимир Мордехай-Вольф Хавкін; Russian: Мордехай-Вольф Хавкин; 15 March 1860 – 26 October 1930) was a bacteriologist from the Russian Empire later naturalized French. He emigrated and worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where he developed an anti-cholera vaccine that he tried out successfully in India. He is recognized as the first microbiologist who developed and used vaccines against cholera and bubonic plague. He tested the vaccines on himself. Lord Joseph Lister named him “a saviour of humanity”.

He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in Queen Victoria’s 1897 Diamond Jubilee Honours. The Jewish Chronicle of that time noted “a Ukraine Jew, trained i… Continue Reading (8 minute read)