The vaccination campaign will be carried out in three phases, covering the central, southern, and northern parts of Gaza. During each phase, hostilities will pause for three days from 06:00 to 15:00 local time. This agreement follows a recent incident where a 10-month-old baby in Gaza was partially paralyzed after contracting the region's first case of polio in 25 years.
About 1.26 million doses of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) are already in Gaza, with an additional 400,000 doses expected soon. The campaign will be overseen by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in cooperation with WHO, UNICEF, and UNRWA, with over 2,000 trained health workers involved.
The WHO's goal is to achieve a 90-percent vaccination rate across Gaza, which is crucial to stopping the virus's transmission. If needed, an extra day of vaccination and pause has been agreed upon to reach this target.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that spreads primarily through sewage and contaminated water, causing paralysis and sometimes death, especially in children under five. Immunization rates in Gaza and the West Bank were high before the conflict, with 99-percent coverage in 2022, though it dropped to 89 percent last year.
In July, the Israeli military began vaccinating its soldiers against polio. Hamas official Basem Naim expressed readiness to cooperate with international organizations to ensure the campaign's success, aiming to protect over 650,000 Palestinian children in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified that these three-day pauses should not be mistaken for a ceasefire. UK deputy permanent representative to the UN, James Kariuki, welcomed the vaccination plan, stressing the importance of achieving 90-percent coverage and ensuring the safety of vulnerable children during the campaign. In addition, Prof. Hagai Levine, representing the Hostages Families Forum, urged that Israeli hostages be included in the vaccination efforts.
This initiative is taking place against the backdrop of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which was launched in response to a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The attack resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages taken. Since then, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports that over 40,530 people have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
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