Middle East: Polio vaccination in the Gaza Strip to continue tomorrow

The second round of polio vaccinations in northern Gaza is set to restart on Saturday after a pause due to heavy fighting. “We have been assured of the necessary humanitarian pause in the city of Gaza to carry out the campaign,” World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

He called on the warring parties to respect the pause in fighting. When asked, the Israeli army did not initially comment on whether and to what extent it had agreed to interrupt hostilities in the area.

However, the promised safe area is smaller than for the first round of vaccinations in September, said Tedros. It is therefore to be feared that not all children under the age of ten will be reached and that some children will therefore only receive inadequate protection against infection with the polio virus. The WHO chief did not give details about how much smaller the area is now and how many children presumably cannot be reached.

The vaccination round will initially last at least three days, possibly longer, as the Israeli military authority Cogat, which is responsible for Palestinian affairs, announced. Children should receive the vaccination between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (5 a.m. to 3 p.m. CET). An agreement with partners in the international community ensures that people can reach medical facilities safely.

The vaccination round in the northern part of the Gaza Strip had to be interrupted a week ago due to heavy bombing and the new displacement of residents. Israel’s army had previously increased its attacks on suspected hideouts of the terrorist organization Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip. The safety of the vaccination staff was no longer guaranteed.

In the central and southern Gaza Strip, almost 443,000 children have already received their second dose of vaccination. According to the WHO, there should be around 120,000 children in the north.