Before the pandemic hit, the fight against polio was in its final mile.
How has the pandemic impacted our fight to eradicate polio?
How have the polio infrastructures helped our fight against COVID-19?
And why is it important to keep our eyes on polio?
Hello, and welcome to Science in 5,
I'm Vismita Gupta-Smith.
We are talking to Sona Bari today. Welcome, Sona.
Sona, let's start with how the pandemic has impacted our fight against polio.
Thank you Vismita for having me today.
Most of us don't remember polio, but just a generation ago,
every single day, over a thousand children were paralyzed by polio worldwide.
Parents would send their children to school in the morning
and, by the afternoon, the polio virus would have paralyzed them for life.
There was no cure, but then a safe, effective vaccine was developed
and the countries of the world decided that we would eradicate polio
and make sure that that vaccine reached every single child everywhere.
And we are 99.9% of the way there.
This year, two children were paralyzed by wild polio virus.
In 2020, like the rest of the world,
immunization was affected when COVID-19 struck.
Parents couldn't bring their children to health facilities for immunization,
and outreach workers couldn't visit the homes to vaccinate children.
So, when this pause, when we couldn't vaccinate children,
we built up what we call an immunity gap.
All the kids who would have been vaccinated
couldn't be vaccinated at that time.
In late 2020, we took measures to make sure that we could vaccinate
with precautionary measures so as not to spread COVID 19,
and we restarted vaccination.
And we are now rebuilding, filling that immunity gap.
Only two countries are left that still have endemic polio: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But we can't be complacent.
Now's the time to come back with more energy.
Sona, the Global Polio Eradication Programme
has a very effective infrastructure
that was put in place to eradicate polio.
How has that helped in fighting COVID-19?
Well, interestingly, when Rotary International, the global service organization,
decided to launch polio eradication, they called it PolioPlus
and the plus has always meant that people who work
to eradicate polio in the endemic countries
and in countries that are at high risk of polio re-infection,
they've always done things beyond eradicating polio.
They weigh newborns. They give advice on other medical issues.
They carry out disease surveillance for other diseases.
And when COVID-19 hit, they also started working on disease surveillance,
on contact tracing, on educating communities,
physical distancing, how to take hygiene measures.
Our lab network is testing samples.
So, this is all part of the support
that Polio Eradication's unique infrastructure is able to give.
And one important thing about this infrastructure
is that it has always been built
to reach those who are least reached by health services.
Communities that live in areas that fall between the cracks.
So, if you will, that weakest link where disease can hide
and polio is uniquely positioned to help there.
Investing in polio eradication is doubly beneficial.
We are not only eradicating polio,
we're actually helping strengthen health systems
where they are at their weakest to the most vulnerable communities.
And now the polio eradication workers
are helping with the vaccine rollout in many countries.
Sona, explain to me why it's important
that the world doesn't take its eyes off of polio
at this point in the pandemic ?
In eradication, when you set out to completely wipe a disease from the Earth,
the only number that counts is zero.
And this was a promise to all future generations,
not just this generation.
This is only the second time we will do this after eradicating smallpox.
The other reason is COVID-19 has shown us how quickly
and dangerously infectious disease can spread around the world.
If we don't stop polio now, it will come roaring back
out of those two countries, leaving the rest of the world vulnerable.
So, let's fulfill that promise.
Let's end polio and give the world
one less infectious disease to worry about.
Thank you, Sona. That was Science in 5 today.
Until next time then.
Stay safe, stay healthy and stick with science.