Polio Vaccination Campaign Launches in Gaza Amid Health Crisis

Polio Vaccination Campaign Launches in Gaza

On Monday, a significant initiative to vaccinate over 640,000 children against polio commenced in Gaza, following the alarming confirmation of the first polio case in the region in 25 years. This effort is a collaborative endeavor involving the United Nations, Israel, and local health authorities, as they aim to prevent a potential outbreak of this debilitating disease.

The U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, announced the arrival of 1.2 million doses of the polio vaccine, which will be administered to children in Gaza. This initiative is being carried out in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and several other organizations dedicated to the health of Palestinian populations.

The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that the vaccines have reached the territory, and preparations for the vaccination campaign targeting children under the age of 10 are underway. However, the distribution of these vaccines may be complicated due to ongoing hostilities and bombardments, which have severely hampered humanitarian efforts over the past 10 months of conflict.

The health ministry has cautioned that merely providing vaccinations may not be sufficient in combating polio, particularly given the dire conditions in Gaza, where access to clean water and personal hygiene products is critically limited. Additionally, issues related to sewage and waste management persist in overcrowded areas where many displaced families are seeking refuge. The ministry emphasized that medical teams must be deployed throughout the region, which necessitates an urgent cease-fire to facilitate this effort.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, reported that a 10-month-old child in Gaza had contracted polio and subsequently experienced paralysis in one leg. The presence of the virus was detected last month in wastewater samples, marking this as the first confirmed case in Gaza in a quarter of a century.

The Israeli defense ministry’s agency, COGAT, stated that the vaccines were delivered to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel. Furthermore, the agency noted that the vaccination campaign would be coordinated with the Israeli military as part of routine humanitarian pauses, allowing Palestinians to access vaccination centers safely.

According to UNICEF, to effectively prevent the spread of polio and mitigate the risk of its resurgence, at least 95 percent of children must receive both doses of the vaccine. This goal is particularly challenging given the severely disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems in Gaza.

UNICEF and WHO have jointly requested that all parties involved in the conflict agree to a weeklong humanitarian pause in Gaza. This would enable children and their families to safely access health facilities for vaccination. The statement emphasized that without these humanitarian pauses, executing the vaccination campaign would be nearly impossible.

Philippe Lazzarini, director of UNRWA, remarked on Friday that the agency’s medical teams would distribute the vaccines through its clinics and mobile health teams to ensure broad accessibility. He stressed that any delay in establishing a humanitarian pause would significantly heighten the risk of polio spreading among children.

Contributions to this report were provided by Rawan Sheikh Ahmad.