Polio Pioneers Project

The effort to eradicate polio worldwide is in its final stages. Most Americans today forget or never knew the stark fear caused by polio. Since the discovery and widespread use of a vaccine in the U.S., this terror has disappeared here. But ask someone born before about 1950 and they will know --- they will remember! It was not like the fear after the September 11th attack. It was not like today's fear of a crazed sniper around Washington. It was a thousand-fold worse.

It was an intense fear reinforced by parents in their keeping children home or not letting them go to public swimming places, amusement parks, theaters or anywhere else that the disease could be lurking. It was a fear kept vibrant because everyone knew people who wore leg braces, or someone who was confined in an iron lung because the paralysis affected their lungs -- or someone who had died from it. All summer every year it was a pervasive fear. Everyone would read the paper to get the latest toll. If you caught a cold, you were sure you were the next victim, and you could not sleep from the fear of waking up unable to move.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, polio epidemics were virtually unknown. The virus was endemic, and as infants in poorly sanitized areas were exposed to it most people had a minor case or otherwise built up an immunity. But as better sanitation was introduced and the world became a "healthier place to live," this natural exposure and immunity to polio disappeared. In 1916 New York City experienced an epidemic, and the United States and the rest of the civilized world were brought face-to-face with the terror of a disease that not only preyed on children, but left many paralyzed for life. Polio was beaten in theory in 1954 with the success of the Salk vaccine, but it would be years before the Salk and the Sabin vaccines eliminated polio in the United States, and it was not until 1988 that a real attempt was started to eradicate polio worldwide..

Today, over 99% of the world's population is polio free, but unless we eradicate the last pockets of this disease, this fearsome crippler will remain only a plane flight away, and a virus needs no visa.

Though $1.8 Billion has been spent to wipe out the disease for 99% of the world's population, reaching the last pockets is expected to cost another $1 Billion. Of that amount, $600 Million is pledged from governments and corporations, and if we can raise $80 Million, Rotary will be able to match those funds and raise the final $400 Million. We hope to help raise as much of the $80 Million as possible by reaching out to the 1.8 million Polio Pioneers --- the children who were in the Salk Polio Vaccine Trials in 1954. Let's Finish What We Started! Let's not leave a single child behind!