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Dean B introduced Dr. Mike Lawrie - I think everyone knows him.... but just in case - a local retired doc for 40 years, joined Rotary in 1987, member of Sunrise, 3 time President, major donor, Benefactor, multiple PHF, incoming DG, married to Louise, 3 kids, and 7 grand kids! Dr. Mike shared many facts today about Polio, and the history of our fight against it - a viral infection, enters the body through the 'fecal/oral' route - 1 in 200 are gravely affected, resulting in paralysis and in some cases, death - 199 in 200 have mild symptons - old people, like Dr. Mike ;) have undoubtedly known people with the disease - we do not have a cure for Polio, other than supportive care - the first vaccine (injectable) was developed by Jonas Salk in 1955 - the current oral vaccine was developed in 1961 by Dr. Sabin; all babies still receive this vaccine today - Rotary's first involvement was spearheaded by Rotary International President Clem Renouf, sending a grant to the Philippines to vaccinate 1,000,000 kids - in 1980, we termed it Polio Plus, and sent vaccinations for 6,000,000 kids to the Philippines - in 1988, there were 350,000 new cases in 125 countries - now there are fewer than 100 cases per year - it is estimated that 17 million kids have NOT contracted Polio because of these immunization efforts - Rotary continues to contribute $50,000,000 per year to fight polio; this is VERY generously matched 2:1 by the Gates Foundation - so far, 2020 has seen 42 cases, so it can still come back; and remember, 42 have symptoms, meaning there are thousands of people carrying the virus - challenges remain education, anti-vaccers, and fears of conspiracy This is not the end, but we're close, we can be proud of our 30+ year history, but we're not done yet Only one disease has ever been eliminated - smallpox; hopefully we can make polio #2 to be erraticated Dr. Mike was thanked by Erica Next Thursday, we look forward to Larissa's 'Who Am I' President Chad wrapped up the meeting :) |
