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.