Axbridge Amble or the Axbridge Ache

You choose………

The Rotary Club of Wrington Vale invites you to enjoy the simple pleasures of the Somerset Levels with them.    Starting at Axbridge Square these walks end with lunch afterwards.  A donation of £3 per walker will help to raise funds for Rotary Polio Plus campaign.

End Polio Now – the Switch

The Switch is here

During the last two weeks of April, the biggest ever undertaking in the field of public health has been taking place – The Switch.

All 155 countries in the world are changing their polio vaccine from the triple “Just Two Drops” to the double vaccine by 1st.May.

The triple oral polio vaccine contains three live, but attenuated, viruses. The attenuation stops the virus mutating and becoming virulent again, but nothing in medicine is fool-proof and some cases of polio due to the vaccine have occurred because of this mutation. The virus that changes most often and cause nearly all the problems has been the Type 2 which has not been seen in the wild since 1999.

When there were 1000 cases of polio each day, the occasional case actually caused by the vaccine was, regrettably, an acceptable risk, but with only 11 cases in the whole world this year, that risk is totally unacceptable, so the Type 2 component has been removed. Hence all countries are changing together. If some do not, and continue to use the triple vaccine, there is a risk that more cases of Type 2 vaccine-derived polio could occur.

To mitigate that risk, all countries that still use the oral vaccine have also included at least one dose of injectable vaccine which contains a killed/inactive virus. In the UK, USA, Australia and a number of other countries, the oral vaccine has not been used for a number of years, just the injectable.

This has been a massive project with all the Polio Plus partners combining with an organisation called GAVI to finish the fight once and for all.

Report by Keith Barnard-Jones

To find out more about this amazing global project on the Rotary International Web site

Well done Glastonbury and Street Club

“Congratulations to Glastonbury and Street………….at the 8 month stage in the year your club is by far the biggest supporter of Polio plus anywhere in GB+I.  Stand tall G+S because that is a magnificent effort.”
DG Bob Acland

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February figures published by Rotary GBI show that contributions to Polio Plus are lower this year to date than in February in 2015.   Despite these indicators some clubs have had great success with their fund raising efforts and are to be congratulated also many clubs have contributed far in excess of the $1.500 goal.  Top of the list this year to date is the Rotary Club of Glasonbury & Street who have contributed $11,846 in the current Rotary year.

On advising the club of their success, club President Paul Lambert was quick to point out that

“The vast majority of the funds contributed were raised at an event starring Mary Berry, this was set up by her younger brother William who is a member of our club. Emma Britten of BBC radio Somerset, who did a superb job of hosting the proceedings, and Bridgwater college generously provided the venue. Everyone involved in the event gave their time for free. The Rotary Club of Bridgwater helped us out by organising the parking.”