The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that cutting back on eradication efforts could cause a global resurgence of polio that ten years from now could paralyze up to 200,000 children a year. The final five-year push to eradicate polio – at an estimated cost of less than $1 billion a year – must be fully funded.
NEW YORK – Growing up in India, I did not have access to the polio vaccine, and the disease paralyzed my legs when I was an infant. As a result, I have undergone many surgeries and cannot walk without leg braces and crutches. My story is not unique. When the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was established in 1988 (I was ten at the time), the disease paralyzed an estimated 350,000 children worldwide each year.
NEW YORK – Growing up in India, I did not have access to the polio vaccine, and the disease paralyzed my legs when I was an infant. As a result, I have undergone many surgeries and cannot walk without leg braces and crutches. My story is not unique. When the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was established in 1988 (I was ten at the time), the disease paralyzed an estimated 350,000 children worldwide each year.