Rotary's PolioPlus program has faced many challenges, much like Miss Vicky’s journey. From raising an ambitious $100 million to a staggering $10.4 billion with partners like WHO and UNICEF, our commitment has only grown. Over the past decade, we’ve reached over 3 billion children, delivering more than 10 billion vaccine doses.
Despite setbacks, including a surge in cases in 2008 and recent vaccination hurdles in Afghanistan, hope remains. Wild polio cases dropped to just 10 in 2023, and new strategies, including the injectable vaccine, are enhancing our efforts.
Recent conferences reaffirmed our resolve, with 87% of Gaza's children vaccinated in the latest campaign. As Rotarians, we must remain focused on achieving a polio-free world by 2029. Together, we can overcome obstacles and continue this vital mission!
Just like Miss Vicky’s challenges, Rotary’s PolioPlus program has encountered and overcome many ups and downs. First for instance, was overcoming the challenge of raising $100 Million Dollars: more money than any service organization in history had ever attempted. That number in 39 years morphed to $2.4 Billion dollars, while a Rotary led coalition of 125 nations and NGOs including the WHO, CDC and Unicef raised to date a staggering $10.4 Billion additional dollars.
Then we realized that to insure distribution of the vaccines, we'd have to develop National Immunization Days (NIDs). This massive effort engaged Rotarian “Boots on the Ground” in over 125 nations to insure that children received the drops. Over the last 10 years alone, more than 3 billion kids have received over 10 billion drops.
Politically, the Islamic countries worried about vaccines being produced solely from Western sources. Could the vaccines be trusted? Production was shifted to manufacturers in Muslim Indonesia. Further Islamic resistance was countered by Saudi Arabia’s insistence on being polio-vaccinated prior to visiting Mecca during the annual Hajj. Vaccination sites were set up in Mecca and participants sent home vaccinated. As a most respected member of their community, these “Hajjis" returned to their communities to insist on vaccination: “I took the drops, now you do the same.”
Down from 350,000 polio cases in 1985 Rotarians were hopeful in 2007 when a record low of 787 cases was achieved. Those hopes were dashed in 2008, when a new outbreak to nearly 2000 cases occurred. This experience tested Rotarian resilience but led to further dedication and an important financial alliance: The Gates Foundation. With a serious infusion of money, Rotarians were challenged to raise $50 Million dollars per year to be matched 2:1 by Bill and Melinda Gates. Money from the effort led to new technologies, new surveillance systems and new vaccines. It led to the discovery of circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (cVDPV) where in rare instances, the oral vaccines could mutate and cause paralysis similar to the wild virus. After more than 10 billion drops to 3 billion children, studies showed that paralysis by cVDPV outnumbered cases caused by the Wild Polio Virus (WPV). This led in 2019 to reintroducing the Sauk injectable vaccine derived from killed virus. Given an injection, it’s impossible to become paralyzed; oral vaccines are then given to eliminate intestinal polio transmission.
Wild polio cases plummeted to 22 in 2022 and 10 in 2023 all within the last two endemic nations, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Could we really be at the start of the three year window to a polio-free world? Then new headlines broke: September 16, 2024: "Taliban Curtails Vaccination Programs in Afghanistan.” Another and serious bump in the road with cases soaring to 55 as of last week. That said, Rotary’s PolioPlus Chairman, Michael McGovern, reported rays of optimism from the GPEI world conference in Berlin last week. First, the cessation in Afghanistan was for door-to-door vaccinations; site-specific vaccination booths are still permitted but require kids to be transported to specific sites to receive the vaccine. The conference in Berlin also recommitted funds and an additional year toward the expected world eradication certification, now 2029. It was also reported that the second round of drops to over 500,000 children in beleaguered Gaza was started with over 87% of children vaccinated in the first round of drops two weeks ago. McGovern further believes that by year end, there will be fewer cases of polio in 2024 from all causes than in 2023. This points to ongoing success in controlling cVDPV cases worldwide.
While raising funds for PolioPlus, Miss Vicky endured and overcame multiple setbacks, trials and tribulations. On the much larger scale, so too, has Rotary risen to meet the challenges posed by the dream of a polio-free world. As Rotarians we need to stay committed, focused and dedicated to that goal.
Lee