Jewish Invention Myths: The Bubonic Plague Vaccine
A persistent ‘Jewish Invention Myth’ – like the false claim that jews invented the polio vaccine (1) as well as the cholera vaccine – (2) is that we have jews to thank for the vaccine for the bubonic plague (aka the Black Death). This claim credits the jewish bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine with having invented it. Like the false claim that Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine rather than the reality that Howard Howe did: the claim that Waldemar Haffkine had a role in the vaccine for the bubonic plague is quite true, but he does not deserve the credit for having invented it.
‘Kosher River Cruise’ writes that:
‘During the late 1800s, lethal diseases like cholera and bubonic plague had no known vaccines. Despite historical blame placed on Jews for the Black Death outbreaks in the 1300s, Jewish bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine refused to be deterred from finding cures for these devastating illnesses. Haffkine’s dedication led to the development of vaccines for cholera and bubonic plague. His bravery even extended to testing these vaccines on himself. In 1893, he relocated to India for 30 years to combat these diseases. Thanks to his efforts, these vaccines became crucial tools in preventing widespread outbreaks.’ (3)
‘Christian Learning’ writes similarly that:
‘Cholera and the bubonic plague are both responsible for massive outbreaks and deaths around the world throughout the centuries. Known also as the black death, the bubonic plague is responsible for being the most deadly disease outbreak in history as it ravaged Europe throughout the Middle Ages.
With the huge global trade expansion occurring in the 19th century, cholera was given the ability to stretch it’s disease to almost every continent on Earth, killing tens of millions of people. Because of this cholera is known as the most deadly disease of the 19th century.
By the late 1800’s there still was no vaccine invented for both of these very deadly diseases. Though historically the Jewish people had been blamed for the black death outbreaks in the 1300s, Jewish bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine decided he would not let that stop him from producing a cure for cholera and the bubonic plague. He got to work on creating vaccines for both diseases and even put himself in harm’s way by testing each vaccine on himself. In 1893 he even moved to India for 30 years so that he could be closer to the source of the outbreaks.’ (4)
‘MNews’ (5) and Slava Bazarsky (6) agree but are similarly short on precise detail on the claim that Haffkine invented the vaccine for the bubonic plague.
The traditional story that is repeated is that after Haffkine’s success with the cholera vaccine in India between 1893 and 1896: the British Indian government asked Haffkine to look into creating a vaccine for the nearly resurgent bubonic plague in 1896 and Haffkine produced and tested one in 1897. (7)
This is quite true and Haffkine certainly did produce and test a vaccine for bubonic plague in India between 1896 and 1897 but – as with those falsely crediting Haffkine with the invention of the cholera vaccine – Haffkine wasn’t the first to come up with the vaccine for the bubonic plague.
That credit actually lies with Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin who first isolated the bacteria that causes bubonic plague in Hong Kong on 20th June 1894 (and who shared credit with Japanese bacteriologist Baron Kitasato Shibasaburō who also working in Hong Kong at the same time who independently identified the same bacteria several days later). (8)
The confusion comes from the fact that Yersin developed both an antiserum (used to treat bubonic plague) and a vaccine from that antiserum in 1896 as Demicheli, Jefferson and Pratt write:
‘Yersin produced the first vaccine in 1896 using horse serum from animals immunised with plague bacilli.’ (9)
Most writers talk about Yersin’s antiserum of 1896 but fail to mention Yersin’s vaccine of 1896 probably due to simple omission and confusion. (10) This has enabled partisan writers such as Joel Gunter and Vikas Pandey (11) as well as Marichka Palamarchuk (12) to simply credit Haffkine and not even mention Yersin.
The reality is that Haffkine developed his vaccine independently of Yersin in India while Yersin did so in France and Hong Kong but Yersin was first by a few months. Thus, while Haffkine deserves some credit: he didn’t technically invent the vaccine for the bubonic plague.
Alexandre Yersin did.
References
(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jonas-salk-howard-howe-and-the-myth
(2) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jewish-invention-myths-the-cholera
(3) https://kosherrivercruise.com/jewish-innovations-throughout-history-that-transformed-the-world/
(4) https://www.christianlearning.com/jewish-inventions/
(5) https://mnews.world/en/news/the-great-jews-and-their-inventions
(6) https://slavaguide.com/blog/jewish-inventors-and-jewish-inventions
(7) Barbara Hawgood, 2007, ‘Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, CIE (1860–1930): prophylactic vaccination against cholera and bubonic plague in British India’, Journal of Medical Biography, Vol. 15, p. 12
(8) D. J. Bibel, T. H. Chen, 1976, ‘Diagnosis of plaque: an analysis of the Yersin-Kitasato controversy’, Bacteriological Reviews, Vol. 40, No. 3, p. 646
(9) Vittorio Demicheli, Tom Jefferson, Mark Pratt, 1998, ‘Vaccines for preventing plague’, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6532692/)
(10) For example: T. Butler, 2014, ‘Plague history: Yersin’s discovery of the causative bacterium in 1894 enabled, in the subsequent century, scientific progress in understanding the disease and the development of treatments and vaccines’, Clinical Microbiology and Infection, Vol. 20, Issue 3, pp. 203-204 and https://www.pasteur.fr/en/research-journal/news/alexandre-yersin-man-who-discovered-bacterium-responsible-plague
(11) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55050012 ; https://www.kyivpost.com/post/20498