Polio vaccination campaign for over 640,000 children in Gaza to begin on Sunday

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative for the Palestinian territories, has announced that a two-phase polio vaccination campaign will commence in Gaza on Sunday (Sept.1).

Speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday, Peeperkorn detailed that the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the WHO, UNICEF, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), will administer two doses of a new oral polio vaccine (type 2) to over 640,000 children under the age of ten during each phase of the campaign.

Some 1.2 million vaccine doses have already been delivered to Gaza ahead of the campaign, which aims to vaccinate more than 640,000 children, a WHO official said on Friday. An additional 400,000 doses are en route to the territory, said Peeperkorn.

The planned pauses are unconnected with negotiations that have been underway for months to try to agree a halt in the fighting in Gaza and a return of Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The WHO has said the Israeli military and Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting to allow the first round of vaccinations to be undertaken by U.N. agencies in coordination with the Palestinian health ministry.

More than 2,180 staff have been trained to provide vaccinations and information about the campaign to people in Gaza.

The pauses, due to run for three days between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m (0300-1200 GMT), will begin in central Gaza, before moving to south and then northern Gaza. However due to the logistical and security challenges facing the campaign, an extra day may be needed for each round, WHO officials have said.

WAM / Reuters