Prof. Gagandeep Kang talks about the Rotavirus vaccine story

Nearly one lakh children die each year in India due severe diarrhea caused by Rotavirus. India is home to one-third of the world’s unimmunized children and the reason for this is that most available vaccines are developed outside India, they are expensive and of low efficacy for undernourished children. The question that confronted our scientists was – How can we save these children and improve their quality of life?

Infosys Prize laureate Prof. Gagandeep Kang has worked on this problem for over two decades and has tested and developed a vaccine in India that addresses these issues . In 2016, the oral rotavirus vaccine that Prof. Kang worked on was introduced into the national immunization program. In this Infosys Prize lecture, she talks about the deadly Rotavirus and the story of the Rotavirus vaccine that her team developed in India.