December 2020 Global Polio Update
Well, another month is over, and 2020 is winding down with some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Two vaccines are approved and on the way to recipients across the country.
We can all appreciate the despair and fear present during the polio epidemic days decades ago, and how helpless parents felt. We are still making progress in the global polio eradication programs.
Well, another month is over, and 2020 is winding down with some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Two vaccines are approved and on the way to recipients across the country.
We can all appreciate the despair and fear present during the polio epidemic days decades ago, and how helpless parents felt. We are still making progress in the global polio eradication programs.
Here are some stats:
Afghanistan
WPV1 cases: 53
Children immunized: 9.900,000
Suspect COVID cases: 52,086
# Polio/COVID contact tracers: 101,677
In October cross-border teams and Transit Point Teams vaccinated 598,494.
Pakistan
WPV1 cases: 82 (2020) vs 147 (2019)
During September NIDs (national immunization days) 38.8 million children were
vaccinated.
All the polio work is ongoing with constant training of community health workers that are the backbone of community engagement. In 35 years, the global polio eradication effort has built
up incredible assets: lab testing, surveillance, and a frontline workforce of hundreds of thousands who deliver vaccines in polio campaigns. These same polio assets have also been
dedicated to COVID-19 response. Most of the front line COVID contact tracers are polio workers. Health worker training, infection prevention control measures, and risk
communications are robust.
We should all take great satisfaction in the legacy of the Polio Plus program, knowing that our priorities are focused in the right places. As we cross over into 2021, it will be a new tax year,
so don’t forget the Foundation and Polio Plus as you plan for next year.
Happy Holidays and thanks --- stay safe and take the vaccine when offered.
Paul Stromborg
District 6420 Polio Plus Chair