|
Santa Paula Rotary President Chris Wilson (left to right) welcomed Moorpark Rotarian Jim Lewis to a recent meeting where he spoke about PolioPlus; Lewis also visited with local Rotarians Pamela Lindsay and Nils Rueckert who have taken part in the National Immunization Day in India.
|
Celebrate the discovery of polio
vaccine by supporting Rotary PolioPlus
April 15, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
One of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine, turned 60 on Sunday, a discovery that has saved millions of lives to the present day when the world is 99 percent free of the disease.
Santa Paula Rotarians heard from a polio survivor at a recent meeting that reminded members that eradication of the disease is still a top priority — and Polio Plus still a leading partner in the fight to drive polio from the earth.
Lewis, a member and Past President of the Moorpark Rotary Club, told Rotarians that no doubt remember receiving polio vaccine, either “A sugar cube or a shot,” the delivery methods for the vaccines developed by Albert Sabin and Salk.
Lewis and his brother were born to early to receive either vaccine and they both were stricken with polio in 1948, when Jim was 5 1/2 years old and his brother two years younger.
Their father, the head football coach at Burbank High School, had the team doctor examine his sons when they first fell ill; they were among the 4,000 cases then in Los Angeles County.
Jim was completely paralyzed by the disease – he said 1 in 200 are — and was hospitalized in Los Angeles City General Hospital for about two months.
Lewis noted the braces on his legs are a more recent development: “Survivors were over achievers … I was and I wore my muscles out,” in competitive sports.
Polio “kills the motor neuron,” a nerve cell whose cell body is located in the spinal cord and whose fiber projects outside the spinal cord to directly or indirectly control muscles.
In Lewis’ case and other polio survivors, “The muscle dies … ”
“We are eradicating polio,” but once eradicated, “we’ll have millions crawling on the streets,” of the world who did not receive the vaccine.
Lewis said, “I was lucky, I had polio in the United States,” where treatment was the best and later eradication efforts as matter of course.
He has made seven trips to India for National Immunization Day events co-sponsored by Rotary International; Lewis uses a walking stick that is a replica of Mother Teresa’s snake cane, a familiar sight to the poor she administered to in Calcutta for decades.
Lewis has been a teacher, coach and school administrator: he admitted he initially joined Rotary to network, “Then discovered its emphasis on polio,” and became active in PolioPlus including traveling to several National Immunization Days to administer vaccine.
He noted that in 1979 the “test case” for mass immunizations occurred in the Philippines where 7 million children received vaccine.
“It was so successful that the wheels of Rotary started to turn,” and in 1985 the organization created PolioPlus, a program that has partnered Rotary with the United Nations and others.
Lewis quoted Dr. Bruce Aylward, who leads the World Health Organization’s polio eradication work, who declared Rotary’s voice is now “the most powerful weapon we have in the war against polio.”
According to the Rotary PolioPlus Fact Sheet, “Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $9 billion to the effort.”
Today, there are only three countries that have never stopped transmission of the wild polio virus by using vaccine that Lewis noted is free to those immunized and costs only 60 cents per dose to purchase: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Less than 370 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2014, which is a reduction of more than 99 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day.
Geographical isolation, poor public infrastructure, armed conflict and cultural barriers are the enemies of those hoping to eradicate polio, a disease that Lewis said could build to 10 million cases in 40 years.
And, until polio is eradicated, all countries remain at risk of outbreaks … and those helping to immunize against the disease are also at risk.
“Last year 30 women workers and their 10 guards were killed,” in Pakistan where 85 percent of all polio cases were reported.
Rotary and others looking to eradicate polio are changing with the times but never bending to opposition to their quest to rid the world of polio.
And funding remains vitally important to not only provide vaccine but also the needs of survivors, surgery, crutches, education, job training and other essentials.
Lewis noted that penny a donated does much especially as, “For every buck you give two bucks are given by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation … ”
Donations to continue the work of PolioPlus can be mailed to the Rotary Club of Santa Paula, PO Box 809, Santa Paula, CA 93061 (be sure to noted PolioPlus on the memo line). For more information you may contact a Rotarian or visit www.endpolio.org
