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Pakistan and Rotary are cutting through a whirl of migrating families and cultural barriers to turn what was 'a badge of shame' into a model for disease eradication.

By Ryan Hyland Produced by Miriam Doan

At a busy toll plaza in Kohat, Pakistan, a three-member vaccination team is working fast. 

Outfitted in blue Rotary vests and flanked by armed military personnel, the vaccinators approach a white van as it pulls away from the scattered stream of traffic, cars rattling east toward Islamabad and west to the nearby border with Afghanistan. One worker leans toward the driver to ask a question as another reaches into a cooler to prepare the vaccine. Among the crush of passengers in the van, they identify one child who has not yet been vaccinated.

There is no time for second-guessing. 

There is not even enough room for the boy to crawl toward the front of the vehicle or through one of the doors; a relative must hand the young child to the vaccinators through one of the rear windows. He is quickly inoculated with two drops of oral polio vaccine, and his pinkie finger is stained with purple ink to indicate that he’s received his dose. He cries as the vaccinator hurriedly passes him back through the window. The van speeds off, fading back into the dizzying hum of traffic, as the vaccinators look for the next car and child.

This scene plays out thousands of times a day at transit posts like this one — makeshift vaccination clinics set up at bus stops, border crossings, army posts, and police checkpoints across the country in an effort to reach children who are on the move. 

Here in Pakistan, home to almost all of the world’s polio cases just a few years ago, these moving targets require a vaccination strategy as agile and stubborn as the virus itself. At hundreds of sites, teams of health workers verify that every child passing through receives the vaccine. 

The interaction is fleeting — faster than getting a meal at a drive-through restaurant — but the benefit is permanent. Another child, another family, another generation is protected, and Pakistan moves one step closer to having zero polio cases.

Just a quick final update for the Sam Azinger Trophy:

In 2018-2019, the TM-Rotary Noon Club squeaked by in the inaugural year to take the Sam Azinger Trophy, in part because the Sunrise Club may or may not have been made aware that the competition had been created. With just 3 weeks left in the 2019-2020 Rotary year, we have seen the Noon Club take a substantial lead in the race for the Sam Azinger Trophy. We remind you that the Sam Azinger Trophy will be passed between the Noon Club and Sunrise Club to be held by the club that raised more money to the Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus the previous year.

Currently the Noon Club has raised a whopping $7,001.00, while the Sunrise Club is trailing with $3,570.50. We all know that the Sunrise Club has been waiting to make several last minute moves to try to catch the Noon Club sleeping. Meanwhile, the Noon Club has not let off the gas all year. Will we see a last minute surge from the Sunrise Club, or should Wayne Larrivee throw the dagger? We’ll see how these final weeks play out.

Sam Azinger
TM Rotary Noon Club