NPR Hits It On the Nose

The COVID-19 global pandemic has changed everything we have ever known; our personal and professional lives have been interrupted; special occasions and celebrations had to be adjusted, postponed, or cancelled; and the rising death toll.

This crisis has brought many things to light, good and otherwise. I am not going to waste your time listing the positives and negatives of the past ten months because there are far better researched articles on the internet to whet your mental appetite.

But I do want to direct your attention to how this crisis has affected the progress of creating a polio free world, and it isn't optimistic.

As you can imagine, walking door to door and offering medicine to small children during a health pandemic isn't a safe or smart thing to do. Therefore, over the past ten months, babies have continued to arrive into this world and have not been inoculated for the polio virus. The immunization efforts have also had to be delayed, which leaves these children exposed to become infected and new carriers for the disease. Please listen to the NPR coverage of this story.

As everyone eagerly anticipates for renewed routines and normalcy within their own lives, I am nervous for when the efforts to provide this life saving medicine can continue. With over four decades invested into changing the world and a few years away from the finish line, the polio eradication efforts are in jeopardy!

Just like COVID-19, Polio waits for no one.