According to a health official who spoke to AFP, the United Nations has declared “humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza Strip to enable for widespread immunization. As a result, a polio vaccination campaign got underway there on Sunday.
Following the announcement of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years last month, the campaign was launched.
It started in earnest on Sunday in three central Gaza health centers, one day after an undisclosed number of kids received vaccinations in the southern region of the Gaza Strip.
Drones soared overhead as children as young as one day old to ten years old arrived at the centers to receive the dose, according to Yasser Shaabane, medical director of Al-Awda hospital in central Gaza.
“There are a lot of drones flying over central Gaza and we hope this vaccination campaign for children will be calm,” stated Shaabane.
According to him, the campaign started at 9:00 am (0600 GMT).
In order to facilitate vaccinations, Israel has agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in the country’s north, south, and center, according to a statement released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.
Nonetheless, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized that these breaks did not equate to a general ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
More than 640,000 children in the besieged Palestinian territory—devastated by nearly 11 months of fighting—are to receive vaccinations as part of the program.
Additionally, at least 90% of the youngsters in the territory are to receive the initial dose, which consists of two drops, as part of the campaign.
After being completely eradicated in Gaza for 25 years, polio resurfaced during the hostilities that started on October 7 in response to an attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
1.26 million oral vaccination doses have already been sent to Gaza by WHO.
To administer the doses, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza has chosen 67 locations: 33 in northern Gaza, 59 in southern Gaza, and 67 in central Gaza. These locations are primarily hospitals, minor health centers, and schools.
Four weeks following the first dose, the second dose of the vaccination must be administered.
