A Bit more about our Mission

On February 11, 2007, after a very early breakfast, our team from the USA will join members of the Rotary Club of Delhi-West, and drive to the oldest section of Delhi, where we will participate in the NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION DAY (NID). First, we will visit the distribution center, where we will observe as physicians and Rotary volunteers organize the distribution of the polio oral vaccine, to be taken to the various immunization sites throughout that section of the city. Some of us may even participate in distributing the "cold packs" of vaccine to the various sites. With this oral vaccine, it is imperative that the vaccine be kept cool, so it is packed in ice-chests, similar to our Coleman picnic chests. When "opening time" arrives, each site will have a ledger containing the names of all children within that neighborhood or sector of the city. INTERACT members from the local high school will be at each site to lend a hand with the tallying to record each immunized child. All children under the age of five years are brought to the sites, sometimes by a parent, and other times by an older sister or brother. When they reach the head of the line, the child gives his or her name (which is recorded in the ledger) and then is given two drops of life-saving vaccine on the tongue, the finger nail of the little finger on one hand is "painted" with gentian violet tincture, which stains the nail for a period of up to two weeks, so that over-enthusiastic children do not go to another site to have a second dose! The children are usually given a sticker for their shirts, and possibly a trinket from one of the members of the NID team from the USA.

After each does of vaccine is given, the volunteer who is vaccinating the children places the vial of vaccine back onto a cake of ice, to keep it viable by maintaining a temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. This process is "monitored" by the fact that the vial markings change color to alert the volunteer that the vaccine temperature has risen above the 50 degrees, and must be discarded.

Generally, the immunization is completed by mid-day, with follow-up operations going into the various neighborhoods to find children who did not show up for the immunization. Volunteers go house to house, knocking on the doors, seeking those children who did not present themselves at the NID. This is the only way that we can "break the chain" of passing the polio virus on to others.