Going Viral - Dr. Balram Bhargava

 Going Viral is a succinct account of India’s contribution toward vaccine development in the pandemic era. It is a detailed story of the combined efforts of the Government of India and premier research institutes around the country like the Indian Council of Medical Research  ICMR), National Institute of Virology (NIV), and others, in building the vaccine we are so proud of today. Dr. Balram Bhargava, the author of the book and director of ICMR, has taken enormous pride in writing this book as written documentation and proof of the struggles they went through as a team to create a historical vaccine – Covaxin.

Through simple writing and detailed diagrams and images, Dr. Bhargava has tried to break down the nuances of the research that goes into making a vaccine and explain the process behind the scenes for a layman to understand. He has addressed various speculations that were raised regarding vaccine development with a background of scientific reasoning and logic. Throughout the book, he goes through all the struggles they faced as a team at ICMR, right from suggesting the imposition of a strict lockdown to regulating quarantine measures to the factors and ideas that lead to the genesis of Covaxin. I have summarised here the various struggles they came across and how they faced each challenge with grit and determination.

What struck me most about this book was Dr. Bhargava’s continued appreciation of the involvement of the Indian Government. At various instances in this book, he has made a gracious acknowledgment of the intricate involvement of each of the ministries and the role each played to make the path smooth and hassle-free. Right from making transportation of goods and raw materials duty-free to educating the public masses and keeping decorum in this case of national emergency, the Government of India has done a commendable job in preventing this pandemic from turning for the worse and containing it in a far more controlled manner in comparison to our wealthier, better-equipped sister nations. On a personal note, this book did enough mental cleansing to fix my “Macauley mindset” as Dr. Bhargava rightly puts it.

Today India is a “Vaccine Superpower.” We have come a long way from begging for testing kits and raw materials to finally emerging self-reliant and starting low-cost vaccine production. We play a key role in mass production and distribution to all parts of the World. In fact, as of today, more than 2/3^rd of the vaccines made in India are exported resulting in popularly gaining the title – “Pharmacy of the world.” The extensive research done during the pandemic era has brought out many irregularities in our healthcare infrastructure. What amazes me is our ability to emerge as a superpower despite all challenges facing us. As a country, we just refuse to accept defeat. There was ramping up of labs, setting up of BSL-4 labs, rapid turnover of testing kits, testing of novel ideas like vaccine testing on non-primates, partnership with private sector companies, and other such steps that finally lead to this incredible feat.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it is in times of distress that we see our strengths put to best use. This book is evidence of the same. India holds immense potential and as a country, it is our responsibility to fully support the basic foundation of research.