Google paid tribute to Dr Michiaki Takahasi – the Japanese virologist who invented the vaccine against chickenpox. Today’ Doodle has been illustrated by Tokyo, Japan based guest artist Tatsuro Kiuchi. He was a medical graduate from Osaka University and a member of the Research Institute for Microbial Disease.
After studying measles and polio viruses, Dr Takahashi went to the Baylor College in the United States on a research fellowships. During that time, his son was infected with chickenpox, which made him turn his expertise into combating the highly transmissible disease.
In addition to google, there are many others too who salutes the pioneer of vaccine against chickenpox.
Takahashi returned to Japan in 1965 and began culturing live but weakened Chickenpox viruses in animal and human tissue. The vaccine was ready for clinical trials. In 1974, Takahashi had developed the first vaccine targeting the varicella virus that causes chickenpox.
It was subsequently subjected to rigorous research with immunosuppressed patients and was proven to be extremely effective. In 1986, the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University began the rollout in Japan as the only varicella vaccine approved by the WHO.
The vaccine has since then saved millions of children from all across the world from the highly contagious chickenpox disease.
Children should not get chickenpox vaccine if they have ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction to a previous dose of chickenpox vaccine or any ingredient of the vaccine. It is also recommended that those children who are moderately or severely ill at the time the shot is scheduled should usually wait until they recover before getting chickenpox vaccine.