Gaza: WHO and UNICEF Announces the Distribution of Polio Vaccines in the Territory
Gaza Medic Teams Treating a Child, Aug, 2024 Photo: @HuffPost
August 30, 2024 Hour: 5:06 pm
Three-day humanitarian breaks are planned in various areas to allow for the inoculation of over 640,000 children.
The World Health Organization has announced the distribution of 1.2 million doses of polio vaccine in Gaza, with an additional 400,000 to be distributed, as part of an emergency campaign following the first case of this childhood disease in a coastal strip in a quarter of a century.
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The vaccinations, which will begin this weekend, will be accompanied by three-day breaks in the Zionist siege on the Gaza Strip in various areas of the territory to allow for the inoculation of more than 640,000 children.
However, UN officials warned the Israeli army «must respect» the humanitarian pauses negotiated to allow vaccinations, after this week the Israeli forces fired on aid vehicles, This raised questions about the safety of vaccinations.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that vaccinations should start on Sunday, with daily breaks scheduled between 6 am and 3 pm.
UN officials have said the vaccination campaign will be carried out in three-day phases in different areas of the Gaza Strip.
«From Sunday, we will administer two oral doses of the polio vaccine, and four weeks after this initial round of campaigns we will have to repeat vaccination again. There are 640,000 children in the whole of the Gaza Strip», said UN official Louise Wateridge.
It is very important that we carry out this vaccination campaign as soon as possible, and that we are sure to do so, because the impact will be disastrous not only for children in the Gaza Strip but also for children in the region. And they have already suffered a lot».
In response to concerns about the safety of humanitarian workers and families during the campaign, UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said that humanitarian breaks should be respected.
«UNICEF is ready to start the first round of polio vaccination in Gaza on Sunday to reach nearly 640,000 children. All parties MUST respect area-specific humanitarian breaks to prevent polio from spreading in Gaza and the region,» he wrote in X.
«If the fighting does not stop, polio vaccinators will not be able to reach children. Gaza has been polio-free for 25 years so far. Not to respect these pauses would be an unforgivable failure for the children of Gaza and the region, who have already suffered so much.»
Autor: OSG
Fuente: WAFA-UNICEF
