(Geneva) The anti-polio campaign in Gaza is going “well” so far, and this first round of vaccination will take at least another ten days, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
“So we have to vaccinate 640,000 children throughout the Gaza Strip. We are actually running two campaigns. We have started the first round now and the second round will take place in four weeks,” said Dr.r Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, at a press briefing.
The first vaccinations began on August 31, but the larger campaign began on Sunday, the date announced by the UN for a “humanitarian pause.”
“So far, it’s going well,” said Dr.r Peeperkorn, via video link from the Gaza Strip.
“We hope that this will continue, and that all parties will contribute to this. We still have 10 days, at least 10 days” for this first round of vaccination, he said.
Vaccinations have so far been carried out in the central area of the Gaza Strip.
The total number of children under ten vaccinated so far stands at 161,000, “exceeding the estimated target of 156,500 children” for the area, according to WHO.
“We probably underestimated the population in this central area” of the Gaza Strip, explained Dr.r Peeperkorn.
The goal is to vaccinate 340,000 children in the northern area of the Gaza Strip, and another 150,000 in the northern area.
The war between Israel and the Gaza Strip was triggered in response to an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
In response, Israel launched a major air and land offensive in Gaza that has so far killed at least 40,786 people, according to Hamas’s health ministry. The majority are women and minors, according to the UN.
The offensive caused a humanitarian and health disaster and the displacement of almost all of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants.