No More Polio
Rotary played a large part in eradicating Polio worldwide. So why were cases still springing up in places like Sonoma, CA? My task was to figure out why this was happening and what we could do to eliminate this deadly disease entirely. I headed production of the No Mo Po video designed to educate the public and urge them to vaccinate their children.
One of my biggest take-aways from this project was how fragile the system becomes when we choose not to vaccinate. I interviewed Dr. Jose Morales in this video who explained the idea of “heard immunity” which occurs when enough vaccinated people create a sort of communal shield against an infected individual. if too many non-protected (aka non-vaccinated) individuals are introduced, the communal shield breaks down and the infection is allowed to flourish.