TWO Rotarians from Minehead will later this month be supporting the National Immunisation programme by travelling to the most at-risk areas of India to immunise thousands of children against polio.

David Yates and Roger Andrews, from the Rotary Club of Minehead and the Quantocks, will join a group of 76 volunteers who come from across Great Britain and Ireland, and they will meet up with 250 other Rotary International members from Belgium, USA, Japan, Australia and Holland to help with the immunisation of children across the country.

This is an extremely encouraging response to keep India polio free, after the tremendous efforts to eradicate the disease from the area.

Although the country was declared free from the disease last year, there is still the real risk of re-infection from the high number of cases found in nearby Pakistan and therefore it is essential that high levels of immunisation are maintained.

David said: “It is incredible to think that since making the pledge in 1985 to eradicate polio, Rotarians have pulled together to combat the disease all over the world.

"Travelling to India and working with fellow Rotarians illustrates how important it is to be involved in community projects that are not just on your doorstep.”

The aim of this year’s National Immunisation Days is to vaccinate over 172 million children under the age of five and in order to do so, the Rotary office in Delhi will allocate three locations where the International Rotarian volunteers will be placed to assist the local Rotary members.

The immunisation, which is administered by drops on the tongue, can be carried out easily by someone with no medical experience, and is crucial to keeping polio at bay.

Rotary then hopes to continue to send out volunteers in the coming years, until this type of immunisation is replaced with an injection, a procedure that would require medically trained personnel.

To support this trip and donate to End Polio Now go to minehead.rotaryweb.org