Children in Gaza should receive their second oral dose of polio vaccine from October 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, in discussions with Israel to confirm the date.
“Discussions are underway with the Israeli authorities, COGAT [organe du ministère israélien de la Défense] and the Israeli Ministry of Health, as well as with partners on the ground,” Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO lead for emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, said at a press briefing.
The WHO wants this second round of vaccination to start on October 14.
“It’s in 10 days. We hope that vaccination will be completed on October 29,” indicated the Dr Saparbekov, via video link from Jerusalem, added that a meeting is planned for Sunday to confirm or not the date.
“We estimate that around 590,000 children should be vaccinated,” he said. These children under 10 years old will also receive, orally, a dose of vitamin A, to strengthen their immunity.
After the discovery of the first case of polio – and so far, the only one – in the Gaza Strip in 25 years, the WHO launched a large-scale campaign on 1er September to stem the risk of an epidemic.
More than 560,000 children under the age of 10 received a first dose during the first round of vaccination, a “massive success”, according to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Humanitarian breaks” in dedicated areas made it possible to carry out the operation in three stages, in the center of the territory, in the south and finally in the north.
The objective is to prevent the spread of circulating poliovirus, derived from a type 2 vaccine strain (cVDPV2 or cVDPV2 in English). Two drops of nOPV2 vaccine should be given four weeks apart.
The virus was discovered in mid-August in a 10-month-old baby.
“More samples were taken and sent to the laboratory last week, and we hope that the results of this investigation will be available in the next two weeks,” Ayadil Saparbekov said.
Malnutrition
Israel and Hamas have been at war since the unprecedented attack launched on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement, which led to the death of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count carried out in based on official Israeli data and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
At least 41,788 Palestinians, the majority civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation on the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
More than 6% of Gaza’s population was killed or injured, Dr Saparbekov.
He also stressed that the health system has suffered enormously from repeated attacks and a constant shortage of supplies, medicines, fuel and personnel. Only half of Gaza’s hospitals are operational, and partially, and 43% of health centers.
Medical evacuations out of Gaza remain very limited.
As of September 30, of the 15,600 medical evacuations requested, only 5,138 (around 33%) had been approved by Israeli authorities, said Dr.r Saparbekov. Since the closure of the Rafah crossing point in May 2024, only 219 patients have been evacuated, according to the WHO.
Malnutrition is another major concern.
Since January, 20,241 children have been admitted to receive treatment for malnutrition, including 4,437 for severe acute malnutrition.