(Geneva) The first phase of the anti-polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has successfully concluded, with the first dose administered to nearly 200,000 children in the central Palestinian territory, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.
The disease has spread across the ruined Gaza Strip, where most of the 2.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes by an Israeli military offensive launched in response to a deadly Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Many have sought shelter in cramped and unsanitary conditions.
After the discovery of the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years, a large-scale campaign began on Sunday, following the first vaccinations on Saturday, with the help of “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.
The operation aims to vaccinate more than 640,000 children in the besieged territory, devastated by nearly 11 months of war, and the first phase in the center of the strip has already reached 187,000, according to the WHO.
We are grateful for the commitment of all families, health professionals and vaccinators who made this phase of the campaign a success despite the poor conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, on X
“We ask that humanitarian pauses continue to be respected. We continue to call for a ceasefire,” he added.
The WHO had estimated that it would have to vaccinate nearly 157,000 children under 10 in central Gaza, before acknowledging that it had “probably underestimated the population in this area.”
More than 500 teams, bringing together a total of nearly 2,200 health professionals and social workers, took part in this operation. Vaccines were administered at 143 sites.
Mobile teams also went to places that were difficult to access, particularly outside the humanitarian pause zone.
The large-scale campaign has ended in central Gaza, but WHO says vaccinations will continue at four health facilities over the next few days “to ensure that no child is missed in the area.”
The WHO is due to begin another vaccination drive on Thursday, this time in the south of the country, where it estimates it will vaccinate 340,000 children in four days.
The campaign will then take place in northern Gaza between September 9 and 11, with the aim of reaching 150,000 children, according to the WHO.
In about four weeks, another phase is planned to administer a second dose to children.
At least 90% of Gazan children must receive both doses to “stop transmission within Gaza and prevent polio from spreading to neighboring countries” and internationally, according to Dr.r Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.