Starting Sunday morning, hundreds of thousands of children in the threatened Gaza Strip will be vaccinated against polio.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hospitals, doctors’ offices and mobile teams should start vaccinating 640,000 children against the virus responsible for polio within a few days. There should be four weeks between the two doses that provide full immunization.
The aim is to reach more than 90% of children under 10. To achieve this, temporary and local breaks will be introduced in the campaign.
The first vaccine doses were administered during a press conference organized Saturday by the health authority controlled by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The WHO called it an opening ceremony.
The first case of polio in 25 years was recently reported in the Palestinian territories.
Since the start of the war following the Hamas attack on the Israeli border area on October 7, 2023, many babies in the Gaza Strip have not been able to be vaccinated.
According to the WHO, poor sanitary conditions in the coastal strip, where many displaced people are forced to live in cramped spaces and clean water is scarce, could contribute to the rapid spread of the disease.
According to WHO, the vaccination campaign will begin in the central Gaza Strip. After three or possibly more days, the campaign will continue in the south before moving to the northern coastal strip.
