Submitted by Gary Nolte, Zone 28 End Polio Now Coordinator and Cindy Nolte’s, District Polio Chair
As I was doing some research on polio giving in District 5580, I came across Dr. David Fihn’s original hand-written notes on the initial polio effort beginning in 1985. District 5580 pledged and donated $750,000 between 1985 and 1990. Since that time, District 5580 has consistently..
been in the top tier in both of the zones that we have been involved in. Two years ago, District 5580 was the top donating district in Zone 28.
In 1985, there were 385,000 cases of paralytic polio in the world. This year to date, we are standing at 12 cases in two countries. One of the biggest challenges was India, which was declared polio-free four years ago.
Why is there a need for more money? Rotary is shifting some of the vaccinations to injectable vaccine because of the number of immune-compromised children that cannot produce antibodies from the oral vaccine necessary for immunity. Also, type 2 polio has not been in the wild since 1999 and most of the cases of vaccine-derived polio are type 2. Therefore, this type is being removed from the vaccine.
The challenges remain, but we are so close and I think we have made a promise to rid the world of this disease. We have partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and many governments of the world to help us in this effort, but we really do need Rotarians, too. Thank you!!! - The Noltes