Israel First round of polio vaccination campaign in Gaza Strip completed

The first round of the vaccination campaign against the polio virus in the Gaza Strip has been successfully completed. This was reported by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Geneva.

A good 560,000 children under the age of ten had received their first dose of vaccine. Originally, 640,000 children in this age group were mentioned, but the number was overestimated, according to the WHO.

New vaccination campaign in four weeks

"We admire the health teams who have mastered this complex operation," Tedros said. The WHO and partner organizations had negotiated spatially and temporally limited ceasefires with Israel and Hamas so that families could bring their children to vaccination centers or mobile vaccination teams could reach families.

There were no major incidents. The operation lasted just under two weeks. The children all need a second dose of vaccine in four weeks to be protected from infection.

The Gaza Strip was polio-free for 25 years. This summer, however, polio was detected in a child with signs of paralysis. The virus spreads in unhygienic and cramped conditions such as those in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people

A large proportion of the approximately two million inhabitants have been displaced since the start of the Israeli military campaign almost eleven months ago because their neighborhoods were bombed and some of their homes destroyed. Israel declared war on Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, after the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed. According to UN figures based on local authorities, more than 40,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip.