Continuing its streak to celebrate important persons, events and days through its doodle, Google is celebrating the 94th birth anniversary on Michiaki Takahashi, who developed the first vaccine for chickenpox. Takahashi’s vaccine has been administered to millions of children around the world and has proven to be an effective measure to prevent severe cases of the contagious viral disease and its transmission.
Who is Michiaki Takahashi?
Michiaki Takahashi was born on February 17, 1928, and today marks his 94th birth anniversary. He was Japanese virologist who began his research studies in 1959. This brought him to the United States of America in the year 1963. By this time, he had studies about the measles and polio viruses.
What led him to create vaccine against chickenpox?
In 1963, just as he stepped into a new inning in America, his son was contracted with the chickenpox. This very personal reason is why he turned his research knowledge to practical use. Even so, it took him a long time to get his vaccine approved by the World Health Organization in 1986, which was the only vaccine approved against the varicella virus, that causes chickenpox.
How long did it take?
In 1965, Takahashi began culturing live but weakened chickenpox viruses in animal and human tissue. It was ready for clinical trials after 5 years. In 1974, Dr. Takahashi had developed the first vaccine targeting the varicella virus that causes chickenpox. Even so, it was not before 1986 that it got approved by WHO. Soon after, the vaccine was utilized in 80 countries.
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