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  • Many people today wouldn't recognize what this is

  • and that's an amazing thing because

  • it shows how much progress  we've made against polio.

  • It's a terrible disease

  • and in most countries now, largely forgotten.

  • The paralysis from polio starts with your legs

  • and then can get up into this diaphragm area.

  • A lot of people died simply  because they can't breathe

  • and that's where this comes in to help out.

  • This is called an iron lung.

  • It's a mechanical respirator.

  • There's a pump down here

  • that creates enough air pressure

  • that even though your diaphragm is paralyzed,

  • it allows you to keep breathing.

  • Your head's sticking out here.

  • It's pretty grim

  • but it used to keep thousands of people alive.

  • The height of the polio  epidemic in the United States

  • was in the 1940s and '50s.

  • This used to be something

  • that you could see rows and  rows of in lots of hospitals,

  • kids lying in here,

  • and then that pump actually  allowing them to breathe.

  • The reason we don't have  kids needing these anymore

  • is because of the polio vaccine.

  • We've reduced the number of cases by 99.9 percent.

  • And now, wild polio is only in two countries:

  • Afghanistan and Pakistan.

  • During this pandemic, the world benefited

  • from the precious resource of the polio program

  • where all that personnel shifted their focus

  • to help contain the spread of COVID-19.

  • As much as we've achieved in the polio fight,

  • I can't think of a more important time

  • for us to double down and finish the job.

  • The Global Polio Eradication  Initiative has a great plan

  • that will do more than just eradicate polio.

  • They'll also raise vaccination rates

  • and improve health very dramatically.

  • This iron lung was a great tool,

  • but now we need the iron will

  • of everybody involved in this fight.

  • And it's thanks to the commitment of Rotary

  • and many other partners,

  • that makes me confident

  • we can create a world

  • where no child will ever be  paralyzed by polio again.

Many people today wouldn't recognize what this is

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