World Polio Day 2025. “End Polio: Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere”
Every year on 24 October, the international community marks World Polio Day to commemorate the extraordinary progress achieved through polio vaccination and to reaffirm the global commitment to eradicating the disease. The date coincides with the birth of Jonas Salk, who pioneered the first polio vaccine. Since the 1988 launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a partnership between the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 24 October has been a day for reflection and collective mobilisation. The WHO European Region, together with governments, health professionals and civil organisations, renews its commitment every year to maintain a high level of surveillance and to support vaccination, the only possible means of preventing the return of this disease. In 2025, the WHO-promoted campaign takes on particular significance through its official theme, “End Polio: Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere”, a clear and universal message that calls for shared responsibility to protect every child, everywhere in the world, until polio is consigned to history once and for all.
Polio is an acute, highly contagious infectious disease caused by viruses (polio viruses, belonging to the Enterovirus genus) that affect the nervous system by attacking nerve cells and inducing paralysis, which, in severe cases, can be fatal. The virus only infects humans and is transmitted via the faecal-oral route, through the ingestion of contaminated water or food, or through saliva and droplets emitted when infected individuals or healthy carriers cough or sneeze. Regardless of the mode of transmission, the poliovirus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the oropharynx, tonsils, neck lymph nodes and gastrointestinal tract (small intestine). Human cells have specific protein receptors to which polioviruses can attach and thereby penetrate susceptible cells. The infection evolves through cycles of viral replication, leading to the destruction of infected cells. Once the infection is established, polioviruses can reach the central nervous system through the blood-brain barrier, via the bloodstream or through nerve fibres. Viral multiplication destroys motor neurons, which do not regenerate, leading to functional disability of the affected muscles, although in some rare cases it is possible to recover full muscle function. Consequently, the only real weapon of protection is through vaccination.
Given that there are no existing drugs that can cure this disease, the only defence is vaccination. Thanks to vaccines, available in both oral and injectable forms, enormous progress has been made in reducing polio cases worldwide.
Since mass vaccination campaigns began, the number of global cases has been reduced by over 99%, with the disease eradicated in most of the world (polio-free countries) and confined to a few areas that are difficult to reach for cultural, religious and social reasons (war zones).
This is even more worrying when you think about what's going on in the world right now, with the war in the Middle East, which, apart from its abhorrent direct consequences, is a potential risk for bringing back the disease and causing epidemics. This illustrates how essential it is to continue to ensure a high global vaccination coverage; universal immunisation is, in fact, crucial to preventing a new spread of the virus and to stopping transmission in vulnerable settings.
One of the most active organisations in this battle is the Rotary Foundation, which has been leading the End Polio Now programme for over 30 years. In collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and other global institutions, Rotary has made a decisive contribution to reducing polio cases by funding vaccination campaigns, surveillance and awareness projects around the world. Through its ongoing commitment, Rotary works tirelessly to ensure that every child, wherever they are, has access to the vaccine.
From the launch of PolioPlus in 1985 to its collaboration with the GPEI, Rotary has always been actively involved in the fight against polio with the aim of eradicating the disease and ridding the world of its effects. In this regard, it is important to remember that when the GPEI was founded, wild poliovirus paralysed hundreds of children every day, with an estimated 350,000 cases of polio per year across 125 countries. Since then, cases have fallen by more than 99.9%, saving more than 20 million people from paralysis.
However, the history of this disease reminds us that as long as the virus finds even one unimmunised child, no country can truly be safe. In 2025, the world is one step away from the finish line, the shortest but clearly the most difficult. Today, wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) continues to circulate endemically solely in Afghanistan and Pakistan, areas where conflict, instability and logistical challenges limit access to the most remote communities. At the same time, the emergence of vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs), particularly type 2, shows how the disease can exploit any interruption in vaccination campaigns to re-emerge.
Nevertheless, the overall picture is not one of despair but of determination. According to the latest data from the GPEI and WHO, more than 200 million children were reached in 2025 in Africa and Asia through coordinated campaigns, even in areas marked by political instability and humanitarian crises. Environmental surveillance, laboratory diagnostics and digital technologies now enable early detection of the virus in wastewater and rapid intervention to contain outbreaks.
However, experience shows that being “polio-free” does not mean being “polio-safe”. Even Italy, certified polio-free since 2002, must continue to ensure high vaccination coverage, especially in a global context characterised by intense population movements. Epidemiological surveillance and confidence in vaccines, in this context, remain irreplaceable pillars of collective security.
The theme of World Polio Day 2025, “End Polio: Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere”, stresses the urgency of ensuring vaccine protection for all children, regardless of where they live, and of consolidating the surveillance and rapid response infrastructure developed for polio. Eradication requires sustained financial resources, operational continuity, international coordination and sustained commitment from local communities. Indeed, every vaccine administered, every laboratory in service and every child reached contributes to a collective global protection, cementing a legacy that will boost further immunisation programmes and responses to future health emergencies.
World Polio Day 2025 therefore calls for recognition of the progress made and for intensified final efforts: the definitive defeat of polio is only possible through a shared, global commitment.
To honour World Polio Day, VaccinarSinSardegna.org reminds us that numerous initiatives will be promoted at the national and local levels to mark this important occasion. In particular, among the events organised by various Rotary Clubs, we would like to mention initiatives such as “il caffè sospeso per combattere la polio” (a "suspended" coffee to fight polio).
By way of example, here are two of the many initiatives promoted in Sardinia:
- Fundraising at the Teatro Verdi during the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1721) as part of the 2025 edition of the Concerto Grosso with Tony Chessa on flute, Stefano Melis Sechi on harpsichord and our member Guglielmo De Stasio on violin. Those wishing to participate can purchase their tickets themselves and leave their donation at the stand inside the Teatro Verdi that will be set up for the occasion.
- A ‘suspended’ coffee to “End Polio – Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere”: at BAR QUADRATO 00 in via G. Chironi 11 (Sassari), 25 OCTOBER from 9.00am endorsed by the Rotary Club Sassari.
- A ‘suspended’ coffee to “End Polio – Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere”: at the café “il mio bar” in via Bardabsso 1/B (Sassari), 25 OCTOBER from 8.30am endorsed by Rotary Club Sassari Nord.
- A ‘suspended’ coffee to “End Polio – Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere”: at “Caffè Lombardo” in Piazza d’Italia 14 (Sassari), 25 OCTOBER from 10.30 endorsed by Rotary Club Sassari Silki.
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