Opinion: Rotary clear on stance, applies lessons of polio to COVID-19 vaccines – Citizen Times

Rick Devereaux| OPINION COLUMNIST

Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world for the past two years has often been viewed through a political lens, particularly in our own country.Individual perceptions about the seriousness of the disease, the merits of mask policies, school closures, treatment regimens, and the efficacy of vaccines have been influenced more by ones political tribe or ideology than science or expert judgment.

For instance, a November 2021 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that unvaccinated adults were three times more likely to lean Republican than Democrat.In essence partisanship mattered more than any other demographic factor in predicting whether someone got the vaccine.

What makes this so discouraging is the stark contrast between the lethality of COVID-19 and the ease of preventing its most severe manifestations.The pandemic has killed almost one million Americans, more than the 1918 flu and approaching the total number of Americans who have died in all of its wars.This horrific reality is dumbfounded by the fact that the vast majority of these deaths could have been prevented.The vaccines that have been widely available over the past 12 months effectively prevent hospitalizations and death in all but a tiny portion of the population.Yet despite this, over one third of Americans and Buncombe County residents remain unvaccinated, choosing to believe misinformation in their political or cultural news feeds over experts and science.

Because of this politicization of various COVID-19 mitigation strategies and vaccinations, many civic organizations and nonprofit groups have shied away from taking a stand, choosing against wading into a controversial area that might produce unintended consequences for membership or fundraising.

One organization that has rejected such caution is Rotary International, the global service organization comprised of 1.2 million members in over 200 countries.While understanding that many of its U.S. members remain unvaccinated, Rotary recently released a statement providing unambiguous support for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rotary sees the decision to vaccinate as a humanitarian and civic imperative, asserting that global vaccination is the path to ending the pandemic and the emergence of new variants.Rotary clubs around the world have been charged to set good examples by being exemplary role models and redoubling their efforts to support COVID-19 vaccination.

Rotarys statement is all the more significant given its conservative nature, the business orientation of many of its members, and a historical tendency to avoid controversy.

So why did Rotary come out with such a strong stance?

Its simple. For the past 35 years, Rotary has been in the forefront in promoting vaccinations to fight disease, highlighted by its signature campaign against polio. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotarys $2.1 billion in donations from its members, combined with its global vaccination distribution program, has driven down polio cases by 99.9%, saving an estimated 19 million children from permanent paralysis.Rotary and its partners are nearly at the finish line in this fight against polio.Only five cases of wild poliovirus were reported globally in 2021, all contained to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Rotary knows that vaccinations work and maintains that we can apply the lessons we have learned in fighting polio to the efforts in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite this strong Rotary International position, Rotary is not monolithic.While support for this position likely varies among Rotarians in our region, the two largest clubs in Western North Carolina are on board.The Rotary Club of Asheville, the oldest and largest club in the region, is proactively promoting the policy, even funding a billboard campaign due to launch on March 14.

Club president Katherine Morosani says, Our club stands proudly with Rotary in promoting COVID-19 vaccines for every eligible person. Vaccines worked to crush polio; they can do the same for COVID-19. Keith Logan, president of the Rotary Club of Hendersonville states, The data show that vaccinations reduce the likelihood of infection, severe illness, and death while having low risk.The best way to get past the pandemic is for everyone to be vaccinated.

We all need to heed the call of Rotary International, public health officials, and the experts to get vaccinated now against COVID-19.Despite declining infection rates, over 2,000 Americans still die each day from this disease, and the threat from future variants continues to loom.Like polio, there are treatments but no known cure for COVID-19. Our best defense is vaccination.

Major General Rick Devereaux is a retired Air Force officer and the secretary and past president of the Rotary Club of Asheville.

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Opinion: Rotary clear on stance, applies lessons of polio to COVID-19 vaccines - Citizen Times