Scientific and political representations - Cholera vaccine in India

This paper, in the context of various cholera vaccine trials during the pre sent century, examines critical issues of vaccine research, and demonstrate s how the movement from laboratory to field, and then to routine practice i nvolves the complex interaction between science, state and the public spher e. Through narratives of scientists and administrators, the authors try to show the social negotiations through which knowledge either moves from labo ratory to the field or is. inhibited in this movement. Several. questions o f scientific management, organisational structures and scientific diplomacy are addressed, in addition to questions about notions of medical efficacy and of risk and its perception by the! different Social actors.