LCP Wena Bato
The fight to end polio has been very significant in the portfolio of Rotary Clubs and Rotarians around the world. The Philippines became part of this campaign to erradicate polio which has affected the health of our children. Rotary International began the fight against polio in year 1979 to immunize over six million children in our country. This bold move made this end polio campaign a yearly event among the clubs in Rotary District 3810 and in other districts.
October 24 is when the world among Rotarian celebrates the “end polio campaign” but with the surge of COVID-19 challenges arise to reach children to pursue the immunization. Thanks to the Department of Health, government and front liners who have been vigilant in their efforts to continue this fight and reach as many communities to urge parents to vaccinate their children to prevent diseases especially polio.
Every year, the Rotary Club of Metro Dasmariñas conducts its patak polio in one of the communities in Cavite. For this year we conducted it in Barangay Zone 2, Dasmariñas City. Together with health care professionals and volunteers, we were able to vaccinate more than thirty children. It was an experience that is one for the books as it was my first time to drop the vaccine to a child and was so surprised that the child is cooperative as seen in picture.
In the current pandemic, we continue to fight and to learn an important lesson that any disease outbreak can strain our resources in every way possible. It makes us question our priorities in life and value what is most important which is the gift of life.
With all the efforts of our government set in motion, our nation has already come so far in our fight against vaccine preventable diseases. By getting the vaccine ourselves, we participate in that crusade to eliminate the disease. That is why educating ourselves, reaching out to our communities and following the safety procedures and protocols allow us to contribute to the betterment of our society and economy.
To end this article I would like to share the quote I came across in one of my readings. “Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings. There is nothing more important than our good health – that’s our principal capital asset. Good health is now something we can buy so we must enjoy the glow it gives us and we must love it.