Health workers are gearing up to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine to some 590,000 children in Gaza starting Monday.
The first round of the large-scale vaccination campaign took place last month and was widely regarded as a success. About 590,000 children under the age of 10 — representing about 95% of eligible children — were vaccinated against polio in the span of 12 days, according to the World Health Organization.
The agency said this second dose will be crucial in order to stop the spread of the virus in Gaza and internationally. But the success of the vaccine rollout will depend on humanitarian pauses in fighting.
At a United Nations press briefing on Friday, UNICEF Special Representative to the State of Palestine Jean Gough said the group received "reassurance" from the Israeli military and had ongoing communication with "all parties to the conflict" about the plan to pause fighting for several hours each day in areas where the vaccine will be rolled out.
"It worked for the round one and we are confident that it will work for round two," Gough said.
Similar to last month's operation, the upcoming campaign will entail three phases based on region, each lasting between three to four days. In this round, children will also receive a dose of vitamin A to help boost their overall immunity. Another goal will be to reach children who were unable to receive a first dose of the polio vaccine last month.
The WHO had originally aimed to vaccinate about 640,000 children in Gaza. But after last month's campaign, the agency said it may have overestimated the number of children in the Gaza Strip, adding that the ongoing displacement and deaths caused by Israel's war with Hamas may have affected their count. Over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the year-long war, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The vaccine campaign comes amid renewed evacuation orders from the Israeli military to Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip as fighting intensifies, The Associated Press reported. Patients and medical staff in three main hospitals in the region have also been instructed to evacuate. Some 90% of Gaza's residents are displaced.
Over the summer, the polio virus was detected in Gaza's wastewater and shortly after, a 10-month-old baby was diagnosed with the first case of the virus in Gaza in 25 years. The baby developed paralysis in one leg as a result. Health officials sequenced the polio virus in Gaza and traced it to a strain last seen in Egypt in 2023.
About 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine have been delivered to Gaza over the past two months. The WHO said at least 90% of all children in Gaza need to be vaccinated in order to curb the outbreak.
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