After Covid daze, exhibit throws light on the jab through the ages

A mobile science exhibition, another version of the exhibit, is set to travel to rural areas in northern India.

The exhibition looks at, among others, the journey of how the world lived with the arrival of a new virus, what vaccine trials mean, and how vaccines were developed across the world.

Developed by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), under the Union Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with Science Museum Group, London, the exhibition is supported by Wellcome, UK, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the British Council.

The story begins with British physician and scientist Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine from 1796, which arrived in India subsequently. The famous oil painting of the three Mysore queens, which was up for auction at Sotheby’s recently, shows one of the ladies baring her left arm as a salute to the inoculation. There are animation clips that narrate the tale of royal women in the painting, which was used to promote smallpox vaccination.

Although French microbiologist Louis Pasteur opened the door to vaccine development in laboratory in the 1880s, it was Scottish scientist June Almedia, a pioneer in microscope imagining, who discovered the human coronavirus in 1964, and, in fact, gave it the name — in Latin, it means crown, given its crown-like halo.

At Tuesday’s inauguration, ICMR director-general Dr Rajiv Bahl said, “This exhibition is important because just knowing the science is not enough; science has to reach the people.”

There are multiple sections at the exhibition, such as ‘Designing a New Vaccine’; ‘Trials, Results and Approvals’; ‘Scaling Up and Mass Production’; ‘Vaccine Rollout’ and ‘Living with COVID’. Among articles on display is the hazmat suit of Dr Pragya Yadav, head of Biosafety Level 4 lab, ICMR-NIV (National Institute of Virology), Pune, highlighting that she stayed zipped in the suit for five to six hours each day. Then there is a salute to Manish Kumar, 33, a sanitation worker at AIIMS, Delhi, who became the first Indian to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Scott McDonald, chief executive, British Council, said: “Our job is to build connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and across the world. This exhibition is based on science but we have linked art with it to make the whole content more human.”