Fred Philips with Edith Morris and Laura Ladkin

In 1985 the PolioPlus programme was launched by Rotary International. Mr Fred Phillips of the a Hamilton Rotary was the speaker for our March meeting and his report of what Rotary has achieved since then was inspiring. He showed a 6 minute video updating us on this project and we were able to see the enormity of the task which involves thousands of volunteers, and tons of equipment loaded on trucks and camels to distributed the vaccine to all corners of the world.

It is possible that by the time this generation of polio survivors die out like the dinosaurs, polio will be eradicated. Of course, as one member pointed out, the vaccinations need to be maintained to prevent an outbreak in decades to come. Another member commented that vaccination rates are falling in many countries and this is alarming. And so a lively discussion followed.