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he mid-1950s and early ver than a dozen in 2021.8 That's a drop of leg withered by polio.)7 Even though polio vaccines were invented in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, for decades they didn't reach everyone who needed them. As recently as the late 1980s, there were still 350,000 cases of wild polio every year, in 125 countries. But in 1988, the WHO and its partners--led by the volunteer group Rotary International--set out to eradicate polio. By adding a vaccine for it to the list of routine childhood immunizations, and by undertaking massive vaccination campaigns, the world cut cases of wild poliovirus* from 350,000 a year to fewer than a dozen in 2021.8 That's a drop of more than 99.9 percent! And instead of existing in 125 countries, wild polio exists in only two: Afghanistan and Pakistan. <~?~Insert art 013_Gate_9780593534489_art_r1> Ending polio. A worldwide declaration initiated the dramatic reduction of wild polio cases globally, from nearly 350,000 in 1988, to just 4 in 2021. (WHO/GPEI) A main ingredient in the secret sauce is what are known as emergency operations centers. These have existed in every country where there's been a big polio campaign. Picture the office of a political campaign in the last days before the election, and you'll get an idea of what an EOC looks like. Maps and charts are pasted up on the walls--but instead of tracking poll numbers, they're staying on top of the polio campaign. They're organizing a network of community health workers who watch for signs of an outbreak and use a smartphone app to report cases. They're testing samples so they know exactly which version of the poliovirus might be present. They're maintaining relationships with community and religious leaders, * I'm specifying "wild" poliovirus here to distinguish it from vaccine-derived cases, which are extremely rare.