POLIO ERADICATION - ARE WE DONE YET?

Posted by Peg Johnston (Denver) peg.johnston@yahoo.com

The July issue of The Rotarian magazine has a very informative feature article, “What You Don’t Know about The Campaign to End Polio.”

Quoting International PolioPlus Committee Chair Michael K. McGovern: “Rotary and its partners have administered 15 billion doses since 2000. We’ve immunized 2.5 billion kids. Repeatedly reaching the kids to raise their immunization levels is very personnel intensive.” “Rotary was there at the beginning,” McGovern says. “It would be unfortunate if Rotary isn’t there at the finish line. We’ve done too much, we’ve made too much progress to walk away before we finish.”

So how close are we today? To date in 2016, there have been only 20 polio cases diagnosed. We have less than .01% to complete eradication BUT these will be some of the most difficult and expensive last steps.

It will cost $1.5 billion/year - staffing and supplying 145 labs worldwide, providing health workers and vaccines to immunize 450 million children multiple times, completing environmental surveillance- testing sewer systems, open gutters and rivers in 15-20 high risk countries, transporting vaccines and staff to neighborhoods. Thousands of workers and volunteers are involved. Once the final case of polio is recorded, it will take 3 years of continued vaccinations and surveillance, to ensure that the last case is the final one.

This past April, in 155 countries, vaccines were changed from oral trivalent (for 3 polio virus strains) to oral bivalent (2 strains remaining), to stem any circulating virus paralysis. Almost all trivalent vaccine was then destroyed.

Thank you to the 62 clubs, Rotarians and friends in our District who gave to PolioPlus this Rotary year. You have donated $108,730! This will be tripled with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation match, to $326,190. Then add the DDF or District Funds, given as speaker gifts, of $7,000.

$333,190!!! Thank you District 5450!!!