From Kolkata to Global Health: Dr. Ananda Bandyopadhyay’s Quiet Crusade
By Arunima Rajan
Dr. Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay grew up in Kolkata and was trained as a medical doctor and epidemiologist. In his professional career spanning more than two decades, Dr. Bandyopadhyay has led disease control initiatives in diverse settings across the globe including in India, where he contributed to India’s historic polio elimination effort. In his current role as a Deputy Director at the Gates Foundation, Dr. Bandyopadhyay leads global research initiatives aimed at achieving and sustaining eradication of polio. Dr. Bandyopadhyay is a widely cited and quoted global health professional, and has received many accolades, including the highest recognition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - the award of merit, and more recently the prestigious Park ManHoon award from International Vaccine Institute for his contributions to global health and vaccine development. In an interview with Arunima Rajan, he discusses his journey in global health, particularly in polio eradication, highlighting the importance of vaccination campaigns, community engagement and promising developments in vaccine research.
What sparked your initial interest in polio eradication and vaccine development, and how has your understanding evolved through your career?
My journey in polio eradication began in the villages of India. In 2006, I worked with the World Health Organization as a medical doctor, helping plan polio vaccination campaigns. It was there in these remote corners of India in States such Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh that I saw firsthand, the power of vaccines. After successful vaccination campaigns, communities that once suffered from polio, no longer had to live in fear of its devastating consequences. This experience in field epidemiology and public health sparked my fascination with polio eradication, global health and vaccine development.
Could you describe the key scientific and logistical challenges you overcame during the development of the novel oral polio vaccine?
The development of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2, nOPV2, was complex and challenging. From idea generation to making the novel vaccine candidates available for studies, to evaluating it in the laboratory, in clinical trials, and finally to use it in the field in an unprecedented scale and rigorous monitoring, it was an enormous undertaking. As an example of unique challenges during the clinical development process, the first clinical studies were done in a custom-built, fully contained setting in Antwerp, Belgium, where study volunteers stayed in the container village for 30 days for extensive evaluation of vaccine characteristics. Larger studies took place across different parts of world, including Panama, Dominican Republic, The Gambia and Bangladesh, and each of these studies had challenging scientific and operational complexities given the evolving epidemiology of polio. Despite challenges, for over 10 years, countries and partners came together, pushing the boundaries of innovation, to develop this next-generation vaccine.
How crucial was collaboration between governments, research institutions, and international organisations in achieving India's polio-free status?
With a population of 1.4 billion people, India was considered one of the most difficult places in the world to permanently stop the transmission of wild poliovirus. Poor sanitation and overcrowding allowed the virus to spread easily in some parts of the country, infecting hundreds of thousands of children each year in past decades. Despite these obstacles, strong support from the country government coupled with relentless dedication from health workers in the field, aided by support from international organizations, helped India defy the odds and end polio. Without global collaboration, national commitment and field-level engagement of health workers this would not have been possible.
From your experience in India’s polio eradication programme, what lessons have you applied in vaccine initiatives elsewhere?
India’s success in ending polio is a testament to the impact of high-quality vaccination campaigns, and the resolve of health workers who made them possible. Polio vaccinators led the effort, going door-to-door to ensure every child was vaccinated, every time. Natural disasters like flooding did not stop their resolve to reach every child. This dedication on the ground was critical to stopping polio. It is also an important lesson that a vaccine sitting in vial won’t protect a child. Innovative vaccine development is critical, but it must be coupled with work to support social mobilizers and health workers deliver these lifesaving vaccines to save and protect children from deadly and disabling diseases such as polio.
What opportunities exist for private hospitals and healthcare organisations to play a stronger role in national vaccination and disease surveillance efforts?
Local hospitals and healthcare organizations can play an important role in national vaccination and disease surveillance efforts. Grassroots-level efforts led by organizations across the country are instrumental in advocating for strengthened disease surveillance, building community trust, and increasing confidence in vaccines. By advocating with parents and educating about the importance of vaccination, we can help ensure every child is protected from vaccine preventable diseases.
As someone closely associated with the Gates Foundation, where do you see the most promising developments occurring in vaccine research over the next decade?
There are many exciting and potentially game changing development efforts that are in the pipeline as we speak. For example, on-going development of nOPVs against the other two strains of polio – type 1 and type 3 – are underway and in phase II clinical studies, which is a promising development. These vaccines will help combat the two other types of variant polioviruses. The availability of these novel oral vaccines that are affordable and easily deliverable in the field should help us reach our goal of achieving and sustaining eradication of all forms of polioviruses so that our children can live in a polio-free world. Also, developing polio vaccines from non-infectious sources, such as virus-like particles (VLPs) is yet another promising area of vaccine research that could eliminate any risk of community spread of virus from failure of containment at vaccine manufacturing facilities. VLP-based polio vaccines are being evaluated through clinical studies now and if all goes well, they could be available for use in the near future.
What critical gaps should healthcare leaders address to strengthen immunisation strategies in India, particularly for vulnerable and underserved communities?
Reaching children across India, from densely populated urban and peri-urban settlements to far-flung villages, with vaccines is key to sustaining a polio-free India and protecting children from other vaccine-preventable diseases. Strategies started in India to end wild poliovirus, continue to be refined to meet today’s challenges with other vaccine-preventable disease both in the country and beyond. This includes strengthened community microplanning to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations and supporting community mobilization efforts to address vaccine hesitancy. I think adapting field activities based on evolving population and disease transmission dynamics to sustain vaccination coverage and prioritizing community outreach to optimally address challenges related to vaccine hesitancy will be key to maintain momentum in stopping and preventing diseases. By continuing to strengthen these strategies, we can effectively reach all communities with lifesaving vaccines.
What does receiving the IVI–SK Bioscience Park MahnHoon Award mean to you personally, and how might it shape your future research initiatives?
It was an honor to receive the Park Man-hoon Award alongside my colleague, Prof. Pierre van Damme. The recognition is a testament to the years of hard work that our partners across the world spent collaborating on the development and deployment of nOPV2. Thanks to this critical work, almost 2 billion doses of nOPV2 have been administered in over 40 countries globally, protecting children from the devastating impacts of variant poliovirus. Personally, I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the recognition, and I consider this honor to be a tribute to the global partnership to eradicate polio. I hope this award will inspire future generations of vaccine researchers to engage in disease eradication efforts and help make our world a better, healthier and more equitable place for our children.
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