The first phase of a UN-led polio vaccination campaign has begun in the middle areas of Gaza. The operation aims to inoculate 600,000 children in the coming days.
Hundreds of Gazan families have been queueing to await the turn of their child to receive a polio vaccination since early Sunday morning, in a campaign designed to stop the resurgence of a virus whose re-emergence has been blamed on insanitary conditions.
Speaking to international media on Sunday, Sam Rose, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said that over 200 teams are administering the vaccine in 25 locations in the middle areas of Gaza.
Mr. Rose said that the teams, which are going “tent to tent”, need to reach all children in Gaza under the age of 10 in order for the campaign to be successful.
The operation – organized by UNRWA, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health –will continue in the coming days, if the temporary pause in fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces holds.
More to follow
