Rotarians to learn about the Polio Plus Program

Vaccinations often make headlines, but rarely the Polio vaccine. You can learn why it is still important at the next Rotary Club of Carson City meeting. Rotary Polio Plus District Chair Phillip Mahoney will be the guest speaker at the meeting which takes place at noon, Tuesday December 13^th in the Brewery Arts Center’s Grand Ballroom. The public is welcome to attend. The presentation will cover both the past and present status of polio, vaccines and the different forms of the virus.

Rotary International launched its Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1979. Since then, the number of Polio cases around the world has decreased 99%. Mahoney says despite the huge decline, it’s imperative that the program continues. “Only a couple of countries have active cases of polio,” he says. “However, if we stop vaccinating children against the disease we could see hundreds of thousands of cases within a decade.”

Since the program’s inception Rotary members have donated more than 2.1 billion dollars and countless volunteer hours to protect billions of children in 122 countries from the paralyzing disease. 

Joining Mahoney will be Bart Carrillo, a retired attorney from Santa Monica now living in Carson City. He was stricken with Polio at a young age and although he did not have total paralysis, the disease gradually worsened. He is now wheelchair bound and will discuss his battle with the disease from its onset to today.

Anyone interested in attending should email carsoncitynvrotary@gmail.com. To learn more about the Rotary Club of Carson City visit www.carsonrotary.org, to learn more about the Polio Plus program visit https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/ending-polio