WHO and UNICEF workers will administer the NoPV2 vaccine to 640,000 children under the age of 10.
Palestinians who retuned briefly to eastern Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to check on property, carry away some items they were able to salvage amid the devastation, after Israeli troops pulled out from some blocks in the area on August 29, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Israel has agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to allow health officials to administer polio vaccinations to children in the territory, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.
“The way we discussed and agreed, the campaign will start on the first of September, in central Gaza, for three days, and there will be a humanitarian pause during the vaccination,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the agency’s representative for Palestinian territories.
The vaccination rollout will also cover southern and northern Gaza, which will each get their own three-day pauses, Peeperkorn told reporters, adding that Israel had agreed to allow an additional day if required.
The vaccination campaign aims to cover more than 640,000 children under the age of 10.
“We stress the critical importance for all parties to adhere to the commitments that have been made,” Michael Ryan, WHO deputy director-general, told the UN Security Council.
“At least 90 percent of coverage is needed during each round of the campaign in order to stop the outbreak and prevent international spread of polio,” he added.
He said that 1.26 million doses of the NoPV2 vaccine had been delivered in Gaza, with another 400,000 still to arrive.
The vaccine is administered orally in two drops. Health workers will need to return in four weeks’ time to give two more drops to each child to complete the vaccination, although so far there has been no public discussion of arranging another pause in the fighting.
Oren Marmorstein, Israel’s foreign affairs spokesperson, said on X that his government has “has coordinated a large-scale operation with WHO and UNICEF to vaccinate children in the Gaza Strip against polio.”
Hamas said it supports the “UN humanitarian truce.”
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