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The United Nations will begin vaccinating some 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip against polio on Sunday (September 1), a campaign that relies on an eight-hour daily pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in specific areas of the besieged territory.
The comprehensive campaign targets children under 10 years old. Last week, Hong Kong confirmed a baby was paralyzed by type 2 polio virus, the first such case in 25 years.
WHO officials say at least 90% of children need to receive two doses of the vaccine, with four weeks between doses, for the campaign to be successful, but vaccination efforts face huge challenges in the Gaza Strip, which has been badly damaged by nearly 11 months of war.
“It’s not ideal,” Rick Piepelkorn, the World Health Organization’s top official on Palestinian issues, told reporters in Geneva on Friday.
“We think if all the issues are ironed out then this is doable,” he said.
The UN agency said the operation will be carried out in three phases, in central, southern and northern Gaza.
The fight will be paused for at least eight hours on three consecutive days in each phase. The WHO said the pause in each phase could be extended to a fourth day. This means each round of vaccination could take less than two weeks.
But according to a map seen by Reuters on Friday, the truce does not appear to cover the entire extent of each zone. A UN source said the map came from COGAT, the Israeli body that oversees civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories. The map appears to show the truce will take place in smaller areas within each zone.
COGAT referred questions about the map to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The planned ceasefire is not part of months of ceasefire talks aimed at reaching a deal to stop fighting in Gaza and allow Israeli and foreign hostages to return to Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
“What is most important now is to ensure the security and access needed to implement this campaign effectively. I don’t need to tell you how catastrophic the consequences will be if we fail to control this preventable disease – a disease that knows no borders,” acting UN aid chief Joyce Msuya said on Thursday.
“Space and Security”
Testing of wastewater collected on 23 June in mid-July confirmed the presence of type 2 poliovirus in six samples.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the World Health Organization and UNICEF called on August 16 on the warring parties to commit to a humanitarian pause to allow vaccination campaigns to take place.
Days later, during a visit to Tel Aviv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was working with the Israeli government on a vaccination plan.
“Most importantly, humanitarians on the ground … must be given the space and security conditions to safely distribute vaccines and vaccinate at-risk populations,” Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday. “Children’s lives depend on their success.”
WHO officials said Friday that about 1.2 million doses of vaccines had arrived in Gaza ahead of the vaccination campaign, and another 400,000 doses were on their way to the region.
COGAT said the vaccination campaign would be coordinated with the Israeli military “as part of a routine humanitarian ceasefire.” These aid pauses have been in place regularly since Israel’s operations in Gaza began in October.
Hamas also agreed to suspend military operations.
WHO, UNICEF and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will carry out the campaign. Peeperkorn said there will be nearly 400 places where parents can bring their children for the oral vaccine.
He said 300 mobile teams would also be sent to help children in more difficult areas.
Read more by Euractiv
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