The anti-polio campaign began Saturday in the center of the Gaza Strip, an official announced to AFP, on the eve of a “humanitarian pause” announced by the UN to allow children to be vaccinated despite the war that has ravaged the Palestinian territory for nearly eleven months.
“Teams from the Ministry of Health, UNRWA and NGOs began the polio vaccination campaign in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday,” said Dr. Moussa Abed, director of primary care in the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health.
A first case of polio was recently confirmed in a ten-month-old child in the Gaza Strip, where the disease was eradicated 25 years ago.
Due to the war, which began on October 7 with the deadly Hamas attack on Israel, the UN has sent 1.2 million vaccines to be swallowed in the form of drops.
Parents who had the first oral administration of two drops – two doses of the vaccine are required, given one month apart – told AFP that they came forward in part because they feared epidemics among the children of the small territory of 2.4 million people, almost all of whom have been displaced since the start of the war.
PHOTO MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS
A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, August 31, 2024.
Aïd Abou Taha, 33, accompanied his 11-month-old son. “I came because I am very afraid for him,” he told AFP.
“This polio vaccination campaign is very important especially because there are more and more displaced people who are crowding together and there are epidemics spreading among children,” he added.
Bakr Dib, 35, came to have his children aged three, five and eight vaccinated.
“At first I hesitated, I was very afraid that this vaccine was not safe but when I saw that everyone was going to the vaccination center, I was reassured and I came too,” he said.
“Since the war began, my children have caught several diseases because we could not ensure good hygiene with the war,” he added.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Israeli authorities had agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in central, southern and northern Gaza to allow the start of polio vaccinations for 640,000 children on Sunday.
Due in part to damaged roads and displaced populations, the UN had said it might need an extra day for each area, and the agreement provides for the humanitarian pause – expected each day between early morning and early afternoon – to be extended.
According to the UN, “at least 90% coverage is needed in each phase of the campaign to stop the epidemic.”