Polio in Gaza: 25,000 vaccine vials arrive from the United Nations
Rights — di Matteo Suanno
They will immunise more than one million people, especially children. But a vaccination campaign requires a ceasefire, the UN insists.
Polio in Gaza: 25,000 vaccine vials arrive from the United Nations
They will immunise more than one million people, especially children. But a vaccination campaign requires a ceasefire, the UN insists.
On Sunday, healthcare workers in the Gaza Strip received the first batch of polio vaccines sent by the United Nations — essential for carrying out a vaccination campaign that looks set to be a desperate undertaking, conducted as it is under Israeli army bombardment. The shipment consists of 25,000 vials containing 1.2 million vaccine doses, which will be stored at a facility managed by Unicef, the UN's children's agency. Thanks to the first vaccine delivery, healthcare workers still present in the Strip will be able to begin a mass immunisation campaign among children, as Gaza's Ministry of Health announced on Sunday evening. The ministry added that it hopes to vaccinate 640,000 children up to the age of 10, each of whom will receive two doses. A further 365,000 doses are expected to arrive in the coming days.
Today, @UNICEF is bringing 1.2 million doses of polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV) to #Gaza. With @WHO, @UNRWA and other partners, we plan to vaccinate more than 640,000 children. #ForEveryChild, Health.
The polio alarm amid the bombardments
The alarm over a potential epidemic in the Gaza Strip had been raised only a few days earlier, when United Nations officials confirmed the first case of polio in 25 years, detected in a 10-month-old child left with partial paralysis in one leg. Subsequently, two further suspected cases were identified, though these appear to be asymptomatic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), symptoms of the disease — which primarily affects children under the age of five — can include fever, vomiting and stiffness of the limbs. In the most severe cases, polio can lead to partial or total permanent paralysis of the infected person. It is very young children — those under 5 — who bear the heaviest toll, as the disease can prove fatal for them.
"The only vaccine against polio is peace"
Fears over the emergence of the disease had been growing for several months, after traces of type 2 poliovirus were detected in samples collected from the territory's wastewater in June. This highly infectious virus contaminates water directly. After eleven months of war, Gaza's water supply systems are on the verge of collapse, and as a result safe access to water is also severely compromised.
As the poliovirus is now circulating in Gaza, the @UN is poised to launch a vaccine campaign for more than 640,000 children.
It's impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign amid a raging war.
Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio in Gaza is peace and an
It's impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign amid a raging war.
Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio in Gaza is peace and an
At a press conference held last week, the United Nations called for a one-week pause in the fighting in order to carry out a polio vaccination campaign for more than 640,000 children under the age of 10. In particular, Secretary-General António Guterres stated that "the only vaccine against polio in the Gaza Strip is peace," making clear that it will be impossible to conduct a vaccination campaign without a ceasefire being reached first.