“Difficult but possible”: the new polio vaccination campaign in Gaza which is due to start on Monday promises to be more complicated due to the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the north of the Palestinian territory, the UN said.
“I am of course concerned about the developments in the north” of Gaza, World Health Organization (WHO) representative Dr Rik Peeperkorn said at a press briefing.
He said he hoped the conflicting parties would respect the “humanitarian pauses” for vaccinations, and stressed that some health centers in northern Gaza are in evacuation zones requested by Israel.
“We are worried because the conditions on the ground are really more complicated this time,” added UNICEF special representative Jean Gough.
“It will be absolutely essential that not only are localized humanitarian pauses respected in the north, but also that people are not forced to move from one area to another,” she said: “This will be essential so that we can vaccinate at least 90% of children under 10 years of age among the northern population.
However, she said she was hopeful that the campaign could move forward. “It’s difficult but it’s possible,” she said.
After the discovery of the first case of polio – and so far the only one – in the Gaza Strip in 25 years, the WHO launched a large-scale campaign on September 1 to stem the risk of an epidemic.
The objective of the campaign is to prevent the spread of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2 or cVDPV2 in English). Two drops of the nOPV2 vaccine should be administered – orally – four weeks apart.
During the first vaccination cycle (September 1-12), 559,161 children under 10 received a first dose, an operation described as a “massive success” by the WHO.
The WHO hopes to vaccinate around 591,700 as of Monday.
As in September, “humanitarian breaks” in dedicated areas should make it possible to carry out the operation in three stages, in the center of the territory, in the south and in the north. Children will also receive vitamin A.
The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023 by the Hamas attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures and including the hostages. dead or killed in captivity in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 42,126 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry deemed reliable by the UN.
