What is that Polio Picture? This picture shows The World Immunization Week logo.

​Join with Rotary to promote the power of vaccines.

During World Immunization Week, 24-30 April, join with Rotary to combat vaccine hesitancy and misinformation by spreading the facts about why #VaccinesWork.

With decades of experience fighting polio, Rotary plays a key role in informing people about the power and effectiveness of vaccines. As COVID-19 vaccines become more available, Rotary members are using our experience in fighting polio to help communities with their vaccination education and organization efforts. And today, because we and our partners have worked so hard, wild poliovirus remains endemic in only two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. But to eradicate it there and to prevent a resurgence in other parts of the world, we must continue to build trust in vaccines and raise funds for polio eradication, including vaccine delivery.

This year, you can take action for World Immunization Week in three easy ways:

1. Download and share our new two-minute video, “Rotary Inspires Leaders in Global Health,” and show it to your clubs. In it, global health leaders like U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-Chair Bill Gates, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore, and World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus talk about what Rotary has achieved in the fight to end polio.
2. Post graphics and other content from Rotary’s World Immunization Week Toolkit on social media with the hashtags #EndPolio and #VaccinesWork.
3. Donate to Rotary’s PolioPlus Fund to help us and our partners deliver polio vaccines to vulnerable children. Your contribution will be tripled, thanks to the Gates Foundation.

A Win Against Polio is a Win for Global Health!

How Many Children have we saved from the paralysis of Polio?
That number has now reached 20 Million! That’s a number to celebrate and to share!

2021 Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Cases – 32 – Afghanistan – 32 (308 in 2020), Angola – 0 (3 in 2020),Benin – 0 (3 in 2020), Burkina Faso – 0 (61 in 2020), Cameroon – 0 (7 in 2020), CAR – 0 (4 in 2020), Chad – 0 (99 in 2020), Congo – 1 (2 in 2020), Cote d’ Ivoire – 0 (72 in 2020), DRC – 1 (81 in 2020), Ethiopia – 0 (26 in 2020), Ghana – 0 (11 in 2020), Guinea – 5 (44 in 2020), Mali – 0 (45 in 2020), Malaysia – 0 (1 in 2020),  Niger – 0 (8 in 2020), Nigeria – 3 (8 in 2020), Pakistan – 6 (135 in 2020), Philippines – 0 (1 in 2020), Senegal  – 3 (0 in 2020) ,Sierra Leone – 2 (9 in 2020), Somalia – 0 (13 in 2020), South Sudan – 0 (54 in 2020), Sudan – 0 (58 in 2020), Tajikistan – 5 (1 in 2020), Togo – 0 (9 in 2020), and Yemen – 0 (33 in 2020).

A total of 1,081 Vaccine Derived Polio cases were reported in 26 countries in 2020.

Quote of the Day

“Habits are like a soft bed… easy to get into but hard to get out of.” anonymous

The Final Two Polio Endemic Countries:

0 new Polio cases reported this past week.
1 Wild Polio case – 2021. The most recent cases had an onset of paralysis on 1/1/21.
56 Wild Polio cases – 2020.  No WPV1 & CVDPV2-Positive Environmental Samples were reported this week in Afghanistan.

Our Goal is Global Polio Eradication!!

Terry Ziegler, Endowment/Major Gifts Adviser Rotary Region 36