WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed yesterday (29 August) that a polio vaccination campaign will begin in Gaza on 1 September.
The campaign will be conducted in cooperation with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and will be limited to specific areas. Dr Tedros welcomed the news, but said that the only lasting medicine is peace and called for a ceasefire.
“Polio is back in Gaza and thousands of children could be paralysed forever,” said EU High Representative Josep Borrell, following the informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers yesterday (29 August). He said the war had triggered an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, “I simply hope that a call for a ceasefire in order to vaccinate the population will be implemented. Let’s hope that a drop of hope in a sea of despair can save lives and avoid the tragedy of children getting polio.”
Speaking at the UN Security Council, Dr Mike Ryan, WHO’s executive director for health emergencies, said that the campaign will take place in two rounds. Each round will provide two drops of WHO-prequalified oral polio vaccine to more than 640,000 children under 10 years of age, 90% coverage is needed to stop the outbreak and prevent the spread of the disease.
Since the beginning of the conflict in October, more than 280 humanitarian aid workers in Gaza have been killed by the IDF. Ryan said that the three-day pause may be extended by a day to ensure that all children are vaccinated, adding that “the safety of every single one of the 2,180 vaccinators must be guaranteed. Their security is paramount.”
On 16 July, wastewater test results confirmed the presence of polio in two sites in the Gaza Strip. On 23 August, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini confirmed that a 10-month-old baby infected with polio was now paralyzed. It is the first case of polio in Palestine in more than 25 years.
“Polio will not make the distinction between Palestinian and Israeli children,” said Lazzarini. “It is not enough to bring the vaccines into Gaza and protect the cold chain. To have an impact, the vaccines must end up in the mouths of every child under the age of ten.”
The risk of infections and the spread of disease in Gaza is very high due to disruption in routine vaccination programmes, the collapse of the healthcare system – including the targeting of healthcare workers and facilities by Israel, constant displacement and overcrowding, severe malnutrition caused by the blocking of aid and the deliberate targeting of water and sanitation facilities by the IDF.
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