President Ian asked for 3 or 4 volunteers who would be available during the day next Wednesday 24 October to assist with a Purple Pinkie Day promotion. This will involve sitting outside the Post Office asking for donations and telling people about polio. If someone wants to donate we will paint their fingernail purple. Please contact Ian know if you can assist.
Why 'Purple Pinkie'?
In countries where the threat of polio remains, children still receive their polio vaccine by mouth, unlike other countries where the vaccine is injected.
In countries where the threat of polio remains, children still receive their polio vaccine by mouth, unlike other countries where the vaccine is injected.
When vaccinating millions of children in a short period of time it is impossible to document so, every child when vaccinated has the little finger (pinkie) nail of their left hand painted with an indelible purple marker.
This mark turns brown and lasts for about one month.
This is important because the vaccine should not be readministered within one month. Vaccinators check a child's finger before vaccinating to check if they need the vaccine. Hence, Purple Pinkie.
The Rotary immunization programme started in 1985 in the Philippines. That was so successful that three years later in 1988 the Rotary International Board decided to take on the world.
Rotary partnered with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF who negotiated access to countries which was not always easy. The US Centre for Communicable Diseases produced the vaccine in large quantities and they were responsible for distributing it. Rotarians were then responsible for the logistics and the immunization programmes themselves.
There are still three countries that are not free of polio: Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Doug’s words Rotary has done “a hell of a good job” over the past 30 years. 17.4 million people would be polio victims today without the vaccination programme but the real message is that we can’t stop now.