Today, I am thankful for those who scour the Earth to vaccinate early child against polio.
On this day(Apr 29), the fourth of 5 days in World Immunization Week (WIW), I wanted to share a fitting tribute to those who travel our to rural towns, villages, and any other small enclave where humans congregate to end polio. Officially known as poliomyelitis and sometimes referred to as infantile paralysis, polio is a disease characterized by muscle weakness and paralysis in little less than half of 1 percent of all who acquire the infection. Polio is also a disease for which we have a highly effective vaccine.
In the past, I’ve shared my tribute to Dr. Jonas Salk and his efforts to develop the first polio vaccine, an inactivated form of the virus. The success of the Salk vaccine in the now-famous Francis Field Trial was first announced in April 1955. Thereafter, a massive campaign in the United States significantly curtailed the epidemic. In fact, the number of polio cases in the US fell from 35,000 in 1953 to 5,600 by 1957. By 1961, the number of polio cases in the US was down to 161, and, by 1979, the US successfully declared the eradication of polio. Polio was effectively eliminated from all the Americas by 1994. However, despite the success in the developed world, polio eradication has yet to be achieved on a global scale. But, we are getting close, thanks to the efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), an organization who have taken on this specific immunization mission.
Today, I need to step back and share my steadfast respect and awe for GPEI. As a public-private partnership supported by national governments, the WHO, CDC, UNICEF, and Rotary International, GPEI has furthered the cause towards polio eradication. GPEI has been working to eradicate polio for more than 2 decades. This initiative was first conceived in 1988, at a time when polio occurred in over 350,000 people worldwide and the disease was still endemic in most parts of the developing world. Since then, over 20 million volunteers affiliated with GPEI have helped reduced polio incidence by 99.99%. Over 16 million more people today are walking and 1.5 million are alive because GPEI brought an oral polio vaccine to the infant cohorts in these needy nations. In fact, in 2019, less than 100 cases of polio were reported throughout the world.
Now, their work is not easy. Nor is it without notable risk. In the countries GEPI works, vociferous opposition exists to their humanitarian efforts. Many of its volunteers have been verbally chastised or physically abused, and some have even lost their lives for the mission. But, GPEI perseveres because they know their charitable cause is admirable, just, and worthwhile. I am appreciative of all they do to bang the drum to end the horrible, paralytic disease caused by the polio enterovirus.
GPEI staff persists in their pursuit of the elusive goal of polio eradication, but they are not alone. The WHO and Medicins sans Frontieres (MsF) workers are currently braving the hostility and political unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo to distribute the Ebola vaccine – an effort that has been ongoing for since 2018.
We are blessed to have international organizations like GEPI that truly ensure that no child is left behind.
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