The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting in Gaza will allow a polio vaccination drive to begin on Sunday.
The goal of the campaign is to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip amid the virus outbreak, said Rick Pieperkorn, a senior WHO official in the Palestinian Territories.
The effort will begin with a three-day “humanitarian pause” in central Gaza from 6 am to 3 pm. The effort, which is being coordinated with Israeli authorities, will also be carried out in the south and north of the Gaza Strip.
“I’m not saying this is the ideal way forward, but it is a viable way forward and we have to stop it. [polio] Spread of infection in and around Gaza” Peeperkorn said.
Children will receive two doses of the vaccine, two drops each, with the second dose administered four weeks after the first. The vaccination drive for children in war-torn areas will be led by WHO, UNICEF, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The campaign was launched shortly after Palestinian health authorities reported the first case of polio in a 10-month-old unvaccinated baby in Deir ez-Zor Barah.
According to the WHO, to stop polio transmission in Gaza, health workers need to vaccinate at least 90 percent of Gaza's children, and the effort will see more than 2,100 health workers working across the region.
Polio is commonly spread through contaminated water and can cause paralysis and death.
Mediators the United States, Egypt and Qatar are working on a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to halt the fighting that has been raging for nearly 11 months.
The war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostages. In retaliation, Israeli military operations have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, including both combatants and civilians, according to local health officials.
