Polio vaccination campaign in Gaza to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children under 10. Polio vaccination campaign begins in Gaza Health
The first phase of a UN-led polio vaccination campaign has begun in central Gaza, with plans to vaccinate more than 600,000 children under 10 in the Strip in the coming days.
Hundreds of families in the Strip have been queuing since early Sunday morning to receive the vaccine to stop the spread of the virus, which has been blamed on poor sanitation. A 10-month-old child was diagnosed with polio in Gaza in August, the first case in 25 years.
At a news conference on Sunday, Sam Rose, a spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA), said 200 teams were working in 25 locations in central Gaza as part of the vaccination campaign.
Race against time
To stop the polio outbreak in Gaza and prevent the virus from spreading beyond the Strip, health workers will need to vaccinate at least 90 per cent of children during each round of immunisation.
The campaign, organised by UNRWA, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, is being carried out in two phases, as children will receive two doses of the oral polio vaccine. There should be a four week interval between the first and second dose.
As agreed with Israel, three humanitarian pauses of three days each have been announced for the first round of the campaign, for the central, northern and southern areas of Gaza respectively. During the pauses, hostilities will be suspended for 8-9 hours each day.
Commenting on the launch of the campaign on social media, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini called it a “race against time”. Progress in the vaccination campaign will be reviewed every day. If necessary, each of the humanitarian pauses can be extended by one day.
Security during the campaign
UN agencies involved in the campaign and the Organization’s leadership stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of health workers and the population of Gaza.
“For this to work, the parties to the conflict must respect temporary pauses in the area [of vaccination],” Lazzarini wrote on social media. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that “ultimately the best vaccine for these children is peace.”
UN chief reacts to death of Israeli hostages
Meanwhile, the Israeli military reported this weekend that it had found the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. One of them was Hersh Goldberg-Paulin, whose family UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met during one of his meetings with relatives of captured Israelis.
The UN chief wrote on his X-platform page that the news was “a reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.”