We Know About the Life-Saving Work of Louis Pasteur. But Who Knows About Waldemar Haffkine?

Haffkine saved millions of lives yet was erased from history. Why have I not heard about him until now?

Welcome back. I continue to be amazed at the accomplished people who have been lost to historical malfeasance. Today, I am writing about another case in point.

A recent article in The Guardian about a man, Waldemar Haffkin, I had never heard of caught my attention.

At the end of the 19^th century and the early years of the 20^th century, Waldemar Haffkine, a zoologist and microbiologist, developed the vaccines that inoculated millions of people all over the world against cholera and the bubonic plague. His large human trials took place in British-controlled India. His reputation, once maliciously destroyed, is now being resurrected by Paul Twivy, a British strategist, advertising executive, and author. Perhaps, Waldemar Mortimer Haffkin will receive the posthumous credit and recognition he has long been due.

In Paris, Heffkine developed his cholera vaccine and tested it first on guinea pigs, rabbits, and pigeons. Then he risked his own life by injecting himself with attenuated cholera. He was feverish for several days before he fully recovered. Next, he inoculated three Russian friends and other volunteers with the same result.

Then he travelled to India, a country teeming with cholera, to test his vaccine more widely. His British colleagues belittled his work, unable to believe that cholera could be prevented through the injection of a cholera microbe. To prove that it could, Haffkine vaccinated over a hundred villagers in a remote area. Only those who did not receive the injection died of the disease.

Photo credit: Wellcome Images

When the bubonic plague spread from China to British Hong Kong and then to Bombay, the British government downplayed its seriousness until it swept through the dense slums with a mortality rate double that of cholera. Heffkine was summoned to help. Inside a tiny lab and with a few untrained helpers, he began working on the world's first plague vaccine.

After much experimentation, Haffkine successfully inoculated rabbits against an attack of the plague. Then, again, he inoculated himself. He recovered from a bad fever after a few days. When the plague tore through a Bombay prison, Heffkine inoculated 147 of 319 prisoners. None of the vaccinated prisoners died while several in the control group did.

British doctors grew envious of Heffkine’s success for three reasons. Heffkine was proving them wrong. He wasn’t a medical doctor. And he was Jewish. So, what did they do? They went to extraordinary efforts to discredit and ruin him.

Heffkine was known for being precise and methodical. When nineteen people he vaccinated died of tetanus in 1902, the skeptical doctors jumped on it, accusing him of injecting them with dirty needles. The real cause, as the doctors who accused him knew, came from an assistant’s failure to sterilize a vail stopper that had fallen onto the ground. But they buried that fact and falsified evidence. Why? Antisemitism coupled with jealousy is the leading theory.

The British doctors didn’t stop with an accusation. They had Heffkine tried by a British Raj court, which did their bidding. The three judges had been influenced and prejudiced against Heffkine. They wanted him to fail. Paul Twivy writes that this travesty of justice “deserves to be one of the most famous mistrials in history.”

Afterward, Heffkine returned to Britain. However, by this time he had successfully inoculated over 42,000 people.

Joseph Lister (1827-1912), a leading scientist known as the “father of modern surgery,” called Heffkine “a saviour of humanity brought down by racist doctors within the British Raj.” But his praise and recognition of Heffkine was dutifully ignored.

In 1930, Haffkine died alone in Switzerland. While honored in India, where the Heffkine Institute in Mumbai is named for him, he was largely forgotten in the west.

Paul Twivy said: “There is no doubt that we would not have survived pandemics without Haffkine, even though he’s not known. He developed vaccines against two of the biggest killers ever. He is literally the most important scientist in terms of the number of lives he saved. But he is almost invisible outside of microbiology. A lot of scientists don’t even know his name. He’s been eliminated from history.”

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Waldemar Haffkine has been lost in the sweep of history despite all his contributions. Hopefully his accomplishments and dedication to saving lives will now be recognized. My novel about Emilia Bassano Lanyer, who likely wrote many of Shakespeare’s plays. honors her life and many achievements, including those on behalf of women. I invite you to read it. You need not like reading Shakespearean plays to enjoy this novel written for the modern reader. I suspect you will come to love her. You can find it Shakespeare’s Conspirator on Amazon.

If you have enjoyed my History Mystery posts or learned something from them, please feel free to “like” them or comment. I’d love to know what resonates. And, of course, spread the word.

Until next time,

Steve