A Blooming Success

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years, and as a founder of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we’ve reduced polio cases by 99.9% since we started vaccinating children in the Philippines in 1979.   So far this year, 2023, there has only been ONE reported cases of wild polio anywhere in the world, this time in Pakistan - the first anywhere in the world for 6 months.

It is customary in endemic countries to identify children who have received their polio vaccine by staining one of their fingers purple.  A key Rotary Program in this push to eradicate polio around the world is Purple4Polio, recognising this staining by planting millions of purple crocus corms.

As part of this effort in the U.K., we reported in November last year that we planted 4,000 purple crocus corms around the Billericay sign on London Road.  Our efforts have borne fruit and although there are some bare spaces where the planned corms have not come up, even so, visitors entering Billericay via London Road will be greeted by the sight of thousands of purple crocuses.

A tremendous success as can be seen in the images above.