This morning Bill Gates released his third Annual Letter. Since 2009, Gates has written a publication which outlines the priorities of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the coming year. A major focus for the Foundation in 2011 will be vaccines. In particular, Gates is urging the global health community to finish the decades long quest of eradicating polio.
In the same way that during my Microsoft career I talked about the magic of software, I now spend my time talking about the magic of vaccines. Vaccines have taken us to the threshold of eradicating polio. They are the most effective and cost-effective health tool ever invented. I like to say vaccines are a miracle. Just a few doses of vaccine can protect a child from debilitating and deadly diseases for a lifetime,” writes Gates in his 2011 Annual Letter.
The subject of vaccines is, of course, special to the Sabin Vaccine Institute for a few reasons. We advocate for the widespread use of vaccines because we believe in their power to prevent needless suffering and death. Sabin was also founded in honor of Dr. Albert B. Sabin who developed the oral polio vaccine. Dr. Sabin’s vaccine is credited with helping to eliminate polio from all but four nations in the world (Afghanistan, Nigeria, India and Pakistan).
Another special connection that we have to vaccines and disease eradication is through Sabin Executive Vice President Dr. Ciro de Quadros who contributed to the eradication of smallpox worldwide. Smallpox is the only disease to have been eradicated from humanity, but with Gates shining a spotlight on polio it’s not likely to remain the sole disease to have that honor for long.
This morning Dr. de Quadros will join Gates and other global health experts in NYC for a presentation of Gates’ Annual Letter and a discussion on “Polio Eradication and the Power of Vaccines.” The event will be webcast live beginning at 9:30 AM EST.
Stay tuned to the webcast and the global fight to eradicate polio, they’re both certain to get people talking about health and the enormous opportunities for science to impact our lives. As Gates notes in his Annual Letter “investments in health lead to amazing victories.”
