World Immunization Day | Salute to “Sugar Pill Grandpa”!

Today is December 15th

World Immunization Day

Day dedicated to the eradication of polio

There is such a scientist in China

His name is Gu Fangzhou

He is also affectionately called "Sugar Pill Grandpa" by the children.

The sugar pill he invented eradicated polio in my country

Make China a polio-free country

To verify the effectiveness of the vaccine

He took the lead in testing the drug with his colleagues

He brought health to generations of Chinese people

But he said that he had only made a small sugar pill in his life

today

Let’s review the story of “Grandpa Sugar Pill”

Tribute to this great scientist

The seeds of medical studies were planted in childhood

Gu Fangzhou was born in a wealthy family in Ningbo. When Gu Fangzhou was 5 years old, an unexpected change happened. His father was infected with a virus and died during work. This was the first time that Gu Fangzhou felt the pain of infectious diseases.

In order to take care of several children, Gu Fangzhou's mother worked day and night. One day, his mother, who was almost exhausted, stroked his head and said, "Son, you must study hard. When you grow up, you must become a doctor. When you become a doctor, we won't have to ask others for help."

His father's death and his mother's instructions planted the seed of studying medicine in Gu Fangzhou from an early age.

In 1944, Gu Fangzuo was admitted to Peking University Medical School.

After graduating from university, Gu Fangzhou came to Dalian Institute of Health to conduct research on dysentery. When the Korean War broke out, Gu Fangzhou was sent to the battlefield to treat soldiers suffering from dysentery. But just one month after fighting on the front line, Gu Fangzhou suddenly received an urgent telegram with only four words on it: Return to Dalian as soon as possible! It turned out that the country had selected him to study in the Soviet Union.

In 1951, Gu Fangzuo boarded a train to the Soviet Union. In 1955, after studying in the Soviet Union for four years and obtaining a postdoctoral degree, Gu Fangzuo returned to China.

It was also in this year that poliomyelitis broke out in China.

Gu Fangzuo was photographed during his study in the Soviet Union. Image source: Guangzhou Daily

China to take live vaccine technology route

As polio became a pandemic in China, its symptoms caused panic. At that time, it was not yet determined which type of the three polio viruses were prevalent in China, and there was almost no research on etiology and serology. In 1957, Gu Fangzuo led a team to isolate polio viruses from patients' feces in 12 cities across the east and west, and found that the three types of viruses had different characteristics. Through a large number of clinical practice studies, the types of viruses prevalent in China were determined, and laboratory diagnostic standards for polio viruses were established.

The large number of cases obtained during the investigation made Gu Fangzuo increasingly anxious. He reported to his superiors: If the incidence of polio was not high, prevention work could be carried out more slowly, but now the incidence is very high, and there will eventually be a major outbreak in a certain year and place. The major outbreak in Berlin in 1947 was a lesson for us, and the major epidemics in Nantong in 1955 and Wenzhou in 1956 in my country also sounded the alarm.

In 1959, Gu Fangzuo was ordered to go to the Soviet Union to learn about the development and production process of polio virus vaccines. He found that although the existing technology was good, it was not suitable for China at that time in terms of cost and vaccination cycle. In Gu Fangzuo's mind, public health should not be "bookish" at all, and any work should be useful and beneficial to the people.

At the International Polio Vaccine Conference in 1959, the studious Gu Fangzuo figured out that vaccines are divided into "dead" and "live" vaccines, and that dead vaccines are safe but will not form an immune barrier in the human body. Live attenuated vaccines may theoretically restore their virulence, but can become natural vaccines and form an immune barrier.

Gu Fangzuo made a choice for the entire Chinese people with the courage and rational judgment of a scientist. He wrote to the Ministry of Health at the time and suggested that a live attenuated vaccine that had not been proven to be safe and had no mature production process be selected, and personally brought the virus strain back to China from the Soviet Union.

Gu Fangzuo Photo source: Voice of China

In December 1959, the Polio Live Vaccine Research Collaborative Group was established with the approval of the former Ministry of Health, with Gu Fangzuo as the group leader to conduct research on polio vaccine.

Later facts proved that Gu Fangzuo's judgment at that time was correct.

Testing the drug on colleagues

Vaccine development started from scratch. The team overcame the difficulties of material shortages and harsh environment and finally obtained a small sample of the vaccine. As the clinical trial of the vaccine began, the question of who would be the first to take it became a problem.

Risking possible paralysis, Gu Fangzhou drank a small bottle of vaccine solution, and others in the laboratory followed suit and joined the experiment.

Vaccines are harmless to adults, but what about their safety for children? "My son Xiaodong was just under one year old at the time, so he met the requirements," Gu Fangzhou wrote in his oral memoirs. "It was not very fair for me to not give my own child the vaccine but let others take it."

Gu Fangzuo and his eldest son Gu Xiaodong in 1961. Image source: China Association for Science and Technology Senior Scientists Data Collection Project

"It's nothing, actually." Gu Fangzhou said, "We are in this business and we know what we are doing. I can't just take risks with my child." Facts proved Gu Fangzhou's judgment.

As the clinical trials of the vaccine progressed, epidemiological data from 2 million children after taking the vaccine showed that the epidemic peaks in Shanghai, Tianjin and Qingdao had basically disappeared, and the domestically produced vaccine was a safe and effective biological product for preventing poliomyelitis epidemics.

Eliminating polio in China with a sugar pill

In Gu Fangzuo's polio immunization strategy, not a single child in China could be left behind. The oral vaccination rate had to reach 95% to form an immune barrier. This meant that children in the Tibetan Plateau, the Xinjiang desert, and the mountains of Guizhou had to enter the protective barrier without exception. If there was any omission, the virus could relapse. At that time, there was no cold chain, so it was very difficult to effectively circulate the vaccine across the country in a short period of time. The folk method of using a wide-mouthed thermos with popsicles was not very effective.

How can we make a vaccine that is easy to transport and children love to eat? Gu Fangzhou suddenly had an idea: Why can't the vaccine be made into a solid sugar pill? After more than a year of research and testing, Gu Fangzhou finally successfully developed a sugar pill vaccine. The sugar pill vaccine is an upgraded version of the liquid vaccine: while preserving the efficacy of the live vaccine, it greatly extends the shelf life.

With the large-scale production of sugar pill vaccines, my country entered a historical stage of fully controlling the epidemic of polio. In 1975, Gu Fangzuo's team began to develop a trivalent mixed sugar pill vaccine. In 1985, the best ratio was finally explored and the trivalent sugar pill vaccine was successfully developed. In 1986, the trivalent sugar pill vaccine was promoted and used nationwide, providing a powerful weapon for the complete eradication of polio.

In 1990, the national polio eradication plan was implemented, and the number of cases declined rapidly year by year in the following years. In 2000, the "China Polio Eradication Confirmation Report Signing Ceremony" was held at the former Ministry of Health. 74-year-old Gu Fangzuo solemnly signed as a representative, marking that my country has become a polio-free country.

The signing ceremony of the report on the eradication of poliomyelitis in China. Image source: Voice of China

People's Scientist Gu Fangzhou,

He is a real ark!

Carry the children through the virus disaster!

pay tribute!

◎ Comprehensive report by Zhang Shuang of Science and Technology Daily

Source: Science and Technology Daily compiled from People's Daily Weibo, People's Daily Online, CCTV News, China Youth Daily, Metropolis Express and previous reports of this newspaper

Editor: Zhang Shuang

Review: Zhu Liyueliang

Final review: Liu Haiying