Palestinian children line up outside a tent to receive the second stage of polio vaccination at Abdel Aziz Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City’s Nasr District on Saturday. Omar Al Khatta/AFP via Getty Images Hide Caption
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Omar Al-Katta/AFP via Getty Images
More than 58,600 children in northern Gaza received their final dose of polio vaccine on Saturday, the United Nations said, as health workers race to vaccinate thousands more before the campaign ends on Monday. Announced.
Surgery began in mid-October to administer the second dose needed to effectively stop polio transmission. It was scheduled to last several weeks. But on October 23, a vaccination campaign in northern Gaza was postponed due to security concerns over Israeli airstrikes and mass evacuation orders.
“These conditions have made it impossible for families to safely take their children for vaccinations and for vaccination teams to carry out their tasks,” the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a statement Friday. said.
Health authorities have announced that vaccination campaigns will resume in northern Gaza over the weekend, but Israeli authorities this time only agreed to suspend the humanitarian fight in Gaza City, leaving other parts of the north largely evacuated. He claimed that there was. Northern Gaza has been under siege by Israeli forces for several weeks on claims that Hamas has regrouped.
According to WHO and UNICEF, around 15,000 children in need of a second dose live in northern areas beyond Gaza City and are currently inaccessible due to fighting, undermining the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns. There is.
“To stop poliovirus transmission, at least 90 percent of all children in every community and neighborhood must be vaccinated, which is difficult to achieve given the circumstances.” said both organizations, which are members of the United Nations.
The original goal was to vaccinate 119,000 children in northern Gaza with their second dose, but WHO and UNICEF said it was “currently unlikely that this target would be achieved due to access restrictions.” There is.
UN officials say Israeli airstrikes hit near polio vaccine center
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that despite an agreement to cease fighting, an Israeli airstrike occurred near Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan Primary Health Center as parents brought their children for polio vaccinations. He said he was told that. She said six people, including four children, were injured in the attack. The Israeli military said an initial investigation showed it was not conducting any operations in the area at the time.
This weekend, more than 50 children were killed in an airstrike that destroyed two homes housing hundreds of people in Jabalia, north of Gaza, Russell said. She added that a vehicle belonging to a UNICEF worker supporting vaccination efforts was also fired upon by what appeared to be a quadcopter.
“The attacks on Jabalia, vaccination clinics and UNICEF workers are further examples of the serious consequences of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip,” Russell said.
Since the polio vaccination drive first began in Gaza, health officials have warned that the success of the campaign depends on Hamas and Israel agreeing to a humanitarian cessation of fighting. Approximately 590,000 children received their first vaccination in September. Last month, around 451,000 children in south-central Gaza were given their second vaccination.
Over the summer, poliovirus was detected in sewage in the Gaza Strip, making it the first infant in the region to be diagnosed with the virus in 25 years.
NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf and Scott Newman in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed reporting.
