NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION DAY

January 15, 2006

NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION DAY – Delhi, India

Once again, as I did five years ago, I awoke early in the morning, and had a banana and then Sanjiv and I drove to the distribution center in an older section of Delhi, and met the president of the Rotary Club of Delhi – West, S. K. Nair and some other members of that Rotary Club. We met briefly with the gentleman who was heading up that sector of Delhi, and learned about the plan for the day. Shortly thereafter, Sanjiv and I drove one of the local volunteers, who carried ice chests with the vaccine to several of the booths where children would later come to be immunized. We brought him back to the distribution center and then drove to the booth where we would be working for the morning.

When we arrived at the booth, there were several volunteers, as well as Rotarians, with a table set up in a local school playground. It was early and they had only seen a few dozen children. As Sanjiv explained to me, when I had come here five years ago, it was sometimes difficult to encourage children to come or parents to bring their children to be immunized. Through the efforts of Rotary International, in cooperation with the print media, signage, educational systems and word of mouth, as well as a more accurate census, children have been identified, and it is almost second nature for families to make sure that their children get immunized. This is very encouraging and will hopefully be the instrument which brings about a polio-free India, and a polio-free world. Rotary International certainly can take a great deal of pride in the fact that it has served as the principal catalyst in the eradication of polio, and I feel blessed to be a tiny cog in the wheel which has brought this about.

About 9:00 a.m., the children began to arrive at the booth and after about an hour, I had the privilege and honor to immunize several dozen children, and knew that in some small way, I had contributed to their health and well-being.