Polio Could Be Eradicated Worldwide By Years End, Says Gates Foundation

[riversedge]

Source: Huff post/Reuters




10/25/2017 12:34 am ET





A boy receives polio vaccination drops during a house-to-house vaccination campaign in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on April 10, 2016.



Thirty years ago, the polio virus was rampant in more than 120 countries, responsible for the paralysis of about 350,000 people each year. Today, there are only 12 documented cases of the disease in just two nations — and, according to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this once-prevalent illness may be wiped off the face of the planet by the end of 2017.

Speaking at Rotary International’s World Polio Day event on Tuesday, which was co-hosted by the Gates Foundation, Dr. Jay Wenger, the director of the foundation’s polio eradication program, said humanity had successfully reached “the endgame of polio eradication.”
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The Gates Foundation has invested almost $3 billion in this effort, a spokeswoman told CNBC. Rotary, which launched the world’s first global initiative to end polio in 1985, has contributed nearly $2 billion. With the support of governments and other organizations, the Gates Foundation and Rotary have helped vaccinate 2.5 billion children in 122 countries since the 1980s..........................



.................Today, the crippling and potentially fatal disease survives only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both nations have committed to fighting the virus. ..........................


Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/polio-eradication-2017-gates-foundation_us_59f006cae4b0bf1f8836b550?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

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This is indeed a cause to celebrate.

Link to tweet

[murielm99]

1. When I was growing up in the

fifties and sixties, I knew many people who were affected by polio. They were in every community. Every classroom had children who had survived polio. When the vaccine became available, it seemed like a miracle.

My parents made absolutely sure we were protected. I remember my dad taking us to get our doses of the oral vaccine. People who did not live through the polio epidemic have no idea how the vaccine changed everything.

[Girard442]

6. They set up a temporary clinic at my school.

For years, I was in a sulk about how the clinic workers rushed through the injections and were rough with the kids. Years later, I finally understood how they were under the gun to get the job done ASAP -- any delays would lead to more deaths and disabilities. Thanks much guys.

[Dave Starsky]

7. I used to know people with post-polio syndrome.

These are people who had the disease as a kid and eventually beat it, but then had neurological problems later in life as the neurons that took over lost function started to die off, tormenting these people a second time.

Fuck polio. This is just one of the many reasons I would like to punch anti-vaxxers in the face.

[murielm99]

10. Exactly.

The anti-vaxxers did not live through this epidemic.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. The govts of Afghanistan and Pakistan might be committed to this effort, ...

... but there are regions in those countries where the gov't doesn't control things. They could run into some very orthodox and vicious anti-vaxxers in those regions.

But, good luck.

[Bob Loblaw]

3. Unless Obama was involved

In which case Trump will reverse this and bring polio back.

[Orrex]

4. Has Jenny McCarthy been reached for comment?

k/r

[IronLionZion]

5. Maybe Trump will stop mandatory vaccinations

and make polio great again, just like America used to be great back when this disease was prevalent

[Paladin]

8. That was my very first thought.

Keep the good news from trump---he'll just find a way to deliberately fuck things up.

[packman]

9. I just had a discussion with an elderly couple about vaccinations

Waiting for our flu shot an elderly man and wife begin to voice their concerns about vaccinations. Their granddaughter had told them about the "dangers" of vaccines and how she wasn't going to get her kids vaccinated. Now they were worried about getting a shot for the flu. I asked them if they had the polio shot way back when. Of course, they replied . How about the measles vaccine - yes, that too. And Tetanus - yes, of course. And now, I said, here we are waiting for the pharmacist to come out and vaccinate us. They said they were going to talk to their granddaughter some more.