“Living versus Dead”: The Pasteurian Paradigm and Imperial Vaccine Research

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The Semple anti-rabies vaccine was developed by David Semple in India in 1911. Semple introduced a peculiarly British approach within the Pasteurian tradition by using carbolised dead virus. The paper studies this unique phase of vaccine research between 1910 and 1935, to show that in the debates and laboratory experiments around the potency and safety of vaccines, categories like ‘living’ and ‘dead’ were often used as ideological and moral denominations. These abstract and ideological debates were crucial in defining the final configuration of the Semple vaccine, the most popular anti-rabies vaccine used globally, and also in shaping international vaccination policies.