Birth Of The $1 Diarrhea Vaccine

The cheapest vaccine to protect against one of the major causes of childhood diarrhoea in India entered the official immunization programme late last week, completing a thirty-year journey that began at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 1985.

On 26 March, the government introduced the rotavirus vaccine Rotavac, indigenously developed under the government’s Universal Immunization Programme. Marketed by Bharat Biotech and approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the vaccine comes for Rs.54 per dose, or Rs.162 for three doses per child.

Back to news