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World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that Polio vaccination campaign in Gazawhich starts this Sunday, This will be a “difficult” exercise. and demanded that the parties to the conflict respect humanitarian breaks have the opportunity immunize more than 640,000 children under ten years old.

WHO representative in Gaza Rik Peperkorn told a news conference in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip that “At least 90 percent coverage is needed during each round to stop the outbreak (…) and prevent its international spread.”

“We are ready to start the campaign. “Preparations are being completed”” he stressed, recalling that other organizations, such as the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), will also take part in it.

Thus, he confirmed that more 1.2 million doses of vaccines and 500 boxes for their transportationbefore announcing that “another 400,000 additional doses will be arriving soon.”

The vaccine will be administered in two rounds, and it is specified that “during each round, the Palestinian Ministry of Health will administer two drops of the new oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to more than 640,000 children under the age of ten.”

In this sense, he welcomed “preliminary commitments for humanitarian pauses during the campaign” and asked the parties to the conflict “suspend hostilities to allow children and their families to safely access health facilities and community workers.”

He also added:

Without humanitarian pauses, the campaign, already being carried out under incredible restrictions and in very difficult circumstances, will be impossible.

The WHO representative stressed that security situation, devastation and “constant displacement of population” will complicate the campaign and warned that it was “very unlikely that this campaign will be enough” to resolve the situation. “We reiterate our call for a ceasefire to allow the health system to recover,” he concluded.

In August, the WHO confirmed polio case in 10-month-old baby in central Palestinian enclave in the midst of an offensive launched by the Israeli army following attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on October 7, the first such case to be confirmed in 25 years. Poliovirus was detected in environmental samples in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah.

Europe Press