• If polio is not eradicated, within 10 years, as many as 200,000 children will be paralyzed by it each year. • In 2016, more than 450 million children were vaccinated multiple times using more than two billion doses of oral polio vaccine. This will be done every year until the world is certified polio free. Rotary funds will help do this. • To date, 122 countries have benefited from PolioPlus grants. • Since 1988, the number of polio endemic countries declined from over 125 to three. • At Rotary’s 2017 International Convention in Atlanta, global leaders pledged $1.2 billion to the fight to eradicate polio. • This pledge included Rotary’s commitment to raise $50 million per year over the next three years as part of the End Polio Now: Countdown to History campaign. • Under an expanded partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, every $1 Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched 2-to-1 (up to $ 50 million per year). Good thing the anti vaxers were not as prevalent in the 1950's or the success of the polio vaccine and the Rotary Polio Plus campaign might not have accomplished this much. |